BELAGAVI
Although, the Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary is celebrated with devotion and solemnity across the Christian world, in the Upper Ghats of North Karnataka and southern Maharashtra, the festival carries a distinctly Goan fragrance — one woven into an old Konkani hymn, the fragrance of the wildflowers and memories handed down through generations.
As churches across the Diocese of Belgaum and the Upper Ghats region celebrated the Feast of Nativity, the faithful gathered in special prayer services and Eucharistic celebrations. Having spiritually prepared themselves through the traditional nine-day Novena, the children, the youth and elders participated in the feast Masses held on Tuesday evening with deep faith and fervour.
Yet, as the Eucharistic celebration drew to a close, another cherished tradition came alive.
The familiar strains of the age-old Konkani hymn _‘Devache Mae’_ echoed through the churches, carrying with them not merely words and melody, but decades of history; migration and memories of a homeland left behind.
For the Goan settlers who made their homes across the Ghats, Devache Mae is far more than a hymn. It is a cultural inheritance and an intimate expression of their veneration of Mother Mary passed from grandparents to the parents and from parents to the children. The hymn has survived the passage of time and distance, keeping alive a connection with Goa and its traditions.
With bowls filled with flowers in their hands, children and elders approach the statue of Mother Mary in an atmosphere of prayer and reverence. Flowers gathered from the surrounding hills and fields become offerings, transforming a simple religious ceremony into a celebration deeply rooted in the community’s cultural memories
“We have been singing this hymn since our childhood. We have seen our grandparents sing it, too. But its beauty and nostalgia have remained with us and have been relived year after year,” said Pasku D’Souza, a former sarpanch from Bokmur village, as he recalled the Nativity celebrations of his childhood.
For the older generation, the feast is also a journey back in time — to a period when Konkani was the language of day today life and the songs of the Church are inseparable from village traditions.
Annu Monteiro, one of the members of the older generation, recalls how the natural landscape itself seemed to become a part of the celebration.
“The Kavlli, Kukkud Kombo, Kadavi, Kireti and other flowers would bloom during this season, almost as if these were meant to be placed at the feet of Saibinn Mai. We would sing 'Devache Mae' and 'Sogott Sangata Mellya' with great devotion, she recalled.
For those who grew up with these traditions, such memories remain remarkably vivid. The flowers, the hymns, the gathering of families and the familiar Konkani words evoke a Goa that may be geographically distant, but remains emotionally close.
The Nativity celebrations in the Upper Ghats therefore represent more than a religious feast. They are an annual reaffirmation of identity — a reminder of how migrant communities have preserved their language, faith and cultural traditions while adapting to a new landscape.
Over the decades, the Goan settlers have made the Upper Ghats their home, but they have never allowed distance to erase their cultural roots. In the Konkani hymns sung inside the churches, and the flowers offered to Saibinn Mai in the memories shared by grandparents with younger generations; an old Goa continues to live.
And when Devache Mae rises at the conclusion of the Mass, it is as though generations come together for a moment — the voices of children blending with those of their grandparents, the present meeting the past, and the Upper Ghats echoing with the enduring Konkani soul of Goa.
"For the faithful, it is devotion, for the elders, it is nostalgia. And for the younger generation, it is a living legacy — a tradition that continues to carry Goa’s language, culture and memories across the Ghats,"Jerome Andrade said.
