In Heaven

Worshippers at Thurithiply on the 7th of September

The "Nercha" served at Thurithiply on sept 8th

Like the Jews of yore, who wished each other with the words,”Shalom, Next year in Jerusalem.”, my wish and prayer for each year is, “Let me spend this years Ettu Noyumbu at Thurithiply.” Ettu Noyumbu is Virgin Mary’s festival celebrated by Jacobite and Orthodox christians. It starts on the first of September and ends on the 8th, which day is believed to be Virgin Mary’s birthday. And in our church it is the biggest festival celebrated, attracting pilgrims from far off places. Actually the festival started as a small affair during the time Vellamparambil Achen was head of the church, he with his great organising power helped the festival grow, then when it became too big for him to handle, he was replaced with another priest. But by then the festival had its own momentum pushing it forward making it bigger year after year. Anyway for my cousins and me, all this happened when

At the head of the procession

we were teanagers, coming of age, taking interest in our appearance, wanting to look pretty, wanting other people to notice us, and it was also the time when my youngest uncle had got married, his bride, a young girl,  just 6 or 7 years older than us. She was young and she was our window into a world of clothes and jewellery and makeup. So come Ettu Noyumbu we would wait for the 8th of september to come around, it was the day of the Perunnal, the day of celebration after 7 days of prayer and noyumbu and on that day all of us would get dressed in sarees, all borrowed from the new aunt,, her blouses too fit us exactly and wearing her jewellery, we would go off to the church. A bevy of  young  girls dressed up in fineries. I can still feel my grandmother eyes on us, angry and mad that we were late for church, plus we were too well dressed for church. We acted like she was invisible, often telling her that, we were there in the front of the crowd near the gate and could not come to our usual place due to rush. My granny, happy to hear about the crowd her church was drawing would smile her forgiveness. That was then, now near 20 years later, so far away from home, Ettu Noyumbu is sorely missed every year. This year I was lucky enough to be there, but as the first few days were at Kottayam, I had to make do with going to Manarcadu Church for the service. Now Manarcadu Pally has the biggest Ettu Noyumbu festival in Kerala, drawing pilgrims from every where and also an income of crores but the 3 days I went there were days I really missed my church. The 4th day I went to Thuruthiply and the moment my feet touched the ground in  Thuruthiply, I was in heaven. I was happy, nostalgia filled, the crowds were huge and pleasing. I knew then that if God were to give a choice between heaven and Thurithiply

Worshippers standing inQueque to see the Sunoro of The Virgin Mary.

I would probably choose the latter. The next five days were spend at home, maybe I should call it heaven. Great five days, filling me with enough happiness and joy to carry me till the next time i am able to go for Ettu Noyumbu at Thurithiply. This year I was able to participate in the perunnal after 4 years,  as the last time was in 2006, wonder when another chance will come around.