Christmas in Goa

 For the very first time we were in Goa for the Christmas week. And what a week it was as now our youngest son has joined the priest hood and so we were thrown into the maelstrom of the church activities with him. Usually in Bangalore our activities hover around the Catholic Club and the St Josephs chapel. Here it was very different. The whole village threw themselves into all the activities of the church and for the very first time we really enjoyed a truly holy and blessed Christmas.

. The crib competition had creative cribs across the village an also IN the creek!

Since our youngest has joined the seminary, Brother Steven was so kindly and generously invited for all the church programmes and was made the chief guest at several of them. He made extempore speeches at our Somudai ( group) and went around with u s to judge the cribs across the village. We saw so many places and so many utterly fabulous cribs, our minds were in an absolute whirl after that. After patiently driving us around, Fr Derrick took us home to his dining room and gave us very welcome soup and croissants.

Our beautiful John the Baptist Church in Pilerne.

The whole village gets together and every house has to hang a star around the church for Christmas. When we visited the Parish priest on the 24th, Christmas Eve, there were kids helping to clean up the church property and hang the latecomers stars up for them. What  a wonderful way to celebrate the coming of the saviour. We who come from the city can never see this simple pleasures which bind the church together. All we do is come for midnight service which is not at midnight any more and after a slice of cake and wine we go off into the night to our own homes. Not so in Pilerne. Here the Parish priest has encouraged the parishioners to enthuse the week with various programmes which bring them all together till the 6th Jan which is the feast of the Epiphany.

I prefer the pure white exterior of churches in Goa.

So from being the chief guest at a sports event and playing the guitar for Mass Steven was roped in every single day to participate and support the church celebrations. He headed the saying of the Rosary and gave out the prizes at a special Furtavaddo event. And suddenly asked to make speeches too did not seem to faze my boy at all. Im  so glad he was encouraged to showcase his talent of playing the guitar and so he has never had any fear of crowds or speaking.

Playing with the choir

It was an absolutely wonderful week when we had such a warm and inclusive Christmas celebration. "Everyone is just like us Mum!"said Steve and that true. The similarity in thought and likes came out in a huge way, enveloping the three of us with memories of a Christmas we will never forget.