Mumbai: Hundreds of Mother Mary devotees took part in the 'Mot Mauli Purcessao' from Mahim Church to Mount Mary, Bandra, on Saturday morning to commemorate the event in 1761 when a statue of Mother Mary was brought to be enshrined on the mount.
The procession, organised by the Mobai Gaothan Panchayat, included cars, bikes, decorated reklas or horse carts, and East Indian brass bands singing religious hymns. The event ended with a religious service at Mount Mary’s Church. It is believed that a rekla was used to bring the Mother Mary statue to the mount. This is the 8th annual procession to Mount Mary and the recreation of the historical event is part of a campaign to 'bring Mount Mary devotion back to the Bandra Fair'.
The East Indians, descendants of local communities that converted to Roman Catholicism in the 16th and 17th century consider themselves the people who started the devotional tradition at Mount Mary. The Bandra Fair, which began on September 8, the feast or birthday of Mother Mary, will conclude on September 15.
