Velankanni Madha Festival during on August and september month.
Every year velankanni Madha festival starts at 29 th of august and ends with hoisting the matha flag at 8 th september.Thats this year also 2010, that velankanni matha festival starts at 29 th of august. Our lady of Good Health, popularly called "Our Lady of Vailankanni" is in the small town of Vailankanni (5000 residents) located on the shores of the Bay of Bengal. It is located 150 miles south of Madras in Tamil Nadu and 5 miles south of Nagapattinam. Our lady chose this place to dispense her miracles to mankind. A strong oral tradition attests to Our Lady’s apparitions at Vailankanni(Velankanni). The tradition is built around the following three significant events:
Impacts of Swine flu
For the one lakh Catholics in Pune, the feast of Our Lady of Velankanni will not be celebrated with the same gusto and entho this year.
The festival, celebrated to mark the birth anniversary of Mother Mary — mother of Jesus Christ, will be held from August 29 to September 8. But in the wake of 13 swine flu deaths in the city, this time processions and other forms of celebration have been cancelled. For the Bishop’s house in Pune, it was a hard decision to make but one that was necessary. One of the major events — the feast of our lady of Velankanni — for the first time will not be celebrated at the Wanavdi chapel, St Francis De Sales church at Shaanwadi and St Ignatius church at Khadki. Instead, the novenas and prayers will now be held at St Patrick’s cathedral from August 29 to September 8 - the day of the anniversary.
“It is with a heavy heart that we have to take this decision,” Father Malcolm Sequeira, parish priest at St Patrick’s cathedral and spokesperson for the Diocese of Poona, said. For the one lakh strong Catholic community in Pune, it will now be novena and celebrations at the cathedral. There will also be no erection of huge pandals and no food (as prasad) will be distributed this year, Father Malcolm said. Processions will also not be taken out for the first time
