St. Mary’s Festival is a 10-day celebration of Mary’s
birthday. Mass is held multiple times a day for the 9 days leading up to her
day of birth (September 8th). On the 10th day there is a
chariot procession and a feast. The festival is not only attended by
Christians; Hindus, Muslims, and other religious groups attend as well because
Mary is Holy Mother of Good Health.
We left Visthar at
5:45a to get to St. Mary’s Basilica. We piled into a coach bus that sits 20
despite our count of 24 people. As we made our way into Bangalore I was struck
by how I couldn’t tell it was 6:00a. Though the streets weren’t crowded, they
also were far from empty. Many people had already started their day’s
work—preparing newspapers, sorting garbage, sweeping streets. Back home at
6:00a, there isn’t much to see, maybe some walkers and a few cars. Traffic
picked up as we drew closer to our destination. The bus pulled over and we
filed off onto a street filled with people in saffron colored clothing—a symbol
of renunciation. Loudspeakers blared Catholic hymns sung in languages
unfamiliar to me. We made our way to the basilica as one single file line of
non-Indian people attracting curious stares while dodging and weaving through
the buses, motorcycles, pedestrians, rickshaws, beggars, and unidentified
substances on the cement. We arrived at the building that held the statue of
Mary. It was a long rectangular building with the shrine at the far end. The
line moved slowly, though saying there was a line is misleading—it was a mob. I
couldn’t stand without touching at least two other people, which was concerning
because most people were holding candles. Within fifteen minutes, I made it to
the glass-encased shrine featuring a statue of Mary covered in flowers. I’m
sure there was more to it, but not being Catholic or having any idea what was
going on I just gave it a glance and walked on. Then we made our way into the
basilica for a half hour mass. Again, it was packed—standing room only. The
space seemed to be heavily influenced by Western churches—stained glass
windows, an alter, ornate statues—however, there were strings of lights that
hung from the ceiling that gave it a sort of Indian twist. Mass was being held
back to back to back in seven different languages (Tamil, Malayalam, Telugu,
Kannada, Konkani, Hindi, and English). The service I attended was in Tamil.
There was scripture, call-and-response, hymns, and prayer. I recognized the
tune of hymn or two, but was otherwise without a clue. We stopped for coffee
and browsed a vegetable market before loading up the bus and heading back to
Visthar.
After lunch, we loaded up the bus again and went into
Bangalore for our first shopping experience. I was not looking forward to
battling traffic and beggars and shopkeepers after the long morning, but I put
on big girl pants and off I went. When we got to Commercial Street we were
taken to a money exchange to get rupees. We then broke off into small groups to
more easily navigate and shop in the neighborhood.
To my surprise, the main street we were on had fixed prices,
therefore, no bargaining (though it’s always an option). Although, now that
I’ve been shopping and I’ve interacted with shopkeepers, I know that I could
handle it.
Overall, the shopping trip was successful. We went into a
store Martin recommended called Fab India where we each bought two or three
items. I purchased a long shirt and two pairs of pants. I was going to upload a picture, but it takes twenty minutes... When we were finished shopping and couldn't bear to go into any more shops we went to a restaurant and ordered mango lassis before heading back to Visthar.
It’s been a long day with a lot of new experiences. I'm very much looking to a relaxed Sunday.
Here's a picture of Commercial Street:
that picture makes me sweaty and anxious. Hope you got some toothpaste and whatever else you needed. big hugs from Mom for putting on you big girl panties amd Dealing With It!
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