PANAJI
The otherwise sleepy village of Santan in Curca came alive as the famed feast of St Anne, popularly known as Touxeanchem Fest, was celebrated at the Santan church on Sunday.
Incidentally, the feast returned to full public participation after the festivity had been curtailed due to the Covid pandemic for the past two years.
Hundreds of people participated, mostly childless couples and those seeking partners for themselves.
There is a popular belief among the devotees that childless couples offer cucumber to the saint and in return ask for a child.
Many couples have testified that they have got a child after praying to the saint and one such couple gave testimony at the feast mass that they were blessed with a child after eight years.
Parish priest Fr Oscar Quadros says that the childless couples offer two cucumbers to the saint of which one is returned after touching the saint's feet, and they pray, “Madonna we are offering you a cucumber, in return give us a child.”
Further, he said that also men seeking a bride and women seeking a spouse come to pray at the feet of the saint.
“It is the faith of the devotees that their wishes are granted. And it is not only the Christians, but even people from other faiths who come and pray to the saint,” the priest added.
There were a large number of cucumbers being sold outside the church for those wanting to offer the same to the saint. And a large number of devotees thronged to offer the same to the saint, which included people from all faiths.
As Touxeanchem Fest is celebrated as a State festival, a police band was in play and the arrangements of installing the pandal, traffic management, etc were done by the government.
Prominent among those who attended the festival included St Andre MLA Viresh Borkar and former MLA Francisco Silveira.
While wishing the people on the feast, MLA Borkar recalled that it was late chief minister Manohar Parrikar who declared it a State feast and expressed gratitude to the government authorities for making arrangements for the smooth conduct of the festival.
Former MLA Silveira said that he himself got a child after praying to the saint, and thanked the government for making the required arrangements.
