30 Jul 2023  |   04:22am IST

The faith in offering a cucumber to St Anne

The annual Feast of St Anne is celebrated with great pomp today, the last Sunday in the month of July at Talaulim. Known all across the world as Touxanchem Fest, cucumbers are offered to St Anne with a fervent prayer for a suitable groom, bride or a child

Dolcy D’Cruz

T

he Church of St Anne in Talaulim, Ilhas was built in 1577 and has its own unique celebrations when it comes to its Feast. The feast is famously known as Touxanchem Fest (Cucumber Feast) as childless couples offer cucumbers to St Anne, praying in Portuguese, ‘Senhora, tomai pepino, dai me menino’ which translates to ‘Our Lady, take this cucumber and give me a child’. Other prayers offered to St Anne are ‘Senhora, tomai colher, dai me mulher’ which means, ‘Our Lady, take this spoon and give me a wife’ and ‘Senhora, tomai urido, dai me marido’ which says ‘Our Lady, take this Urad dal and give me a husband’.

An interesting story which still makes the rounds is that when this chapel was constructed, it wasn’t dedicated to any saint. It was then that a ganvkar Bartolomeu Marchona declared that he had met an old lady on the hill. He said that the old lady, wearing a hat and carrying a walking stick, told him that the chapel being built belonged to her and that she wanted to stay there. Another old woman was miraculously cured when an old lady visited her in her dreams and told her that her name was Anne and she wanted to live in the church. Once these incidents came to light, the chapel was dedicated to St Anne. In 1695, there were more than 12000 Catholics living in the village and the chapel was elevated to a church. St Anne Church is a national monument and still one of the biggest and tallest churches in Goa.

Today July 30, the Masses for the Feast day will be celebrated at 6 am, 7.15 am, 8.30 am, 10 am and 4pm. Devotees can either carry cucumbers from home or purchase them from the Parish Council members. Two cucumbers are usually offered and one is carried back home to be consumed. Over time, the offering of spoons and urad dal has declined and all prayers are offered with cucumbers only.

“St Anne is revered as a model for ideal grandparent behaviour, embodying the silent practice of virtues and passing on a special legacy of faith to grandchildren. In Goa, her influence extends to couples who are longing for a child, as they pray for a miraculous intervention through the intercession of St Anne. The wait for a child can be lengthy, but people turn to St Anne’s love and seek her help in their journey. The symbolic offering of the first fruits is a reminder that God is still relevant in our times,” says Fr Feroz Fernandes, Goan Chaplaincy UK.

Born and brought up in Talaulim, Maria Piedade Fernandes was married to Dr Cajetan Ignatius Fernandes, also from Talaulim. “When we were young, even for the feast, with good clothes, we had to walk on mud roads to go to church in the rainy season to participate in Mass. In 1983, my family celebrated the Feast of St Anne. My husband rented a car to take our guests to the church. I had to go on a relative’s cycle with good clothes and after Mass, my husband had to walk back,” says Maria.

Over the recent years, the different parish priests have been instrumental in bringing the villagers closer to God. “Fr Xavier Mascarenhas in 2002 started the evening mass on the Feast day. He also used to conduct the night vigil at the church which was attended by nearly 3000 people. Fr Caetano Johnsie Pereira started the morning Novena which now gives much more people to attend the Novena at the beginning of the day,” adds Maria, who is also a member of the Parish Council.

Once a populous parish, now the number of parishioners has reduced considerably to less than 200 parishioners. The village comprises of three wards, Igrez Vaddo, Portal Vaddo and Corpir Vaddo. Though the church was renovated in 2010-11, the majestic towers of the church again required repairs. The parishioners set up a special committee, St Anne Church Repair Fund Raising Committee of six members, Joseph Sequeira, Cynthia Negredo, Menino Silviera, Sofiano Sequeira, Swinton Rodrigues and Elias Fernandes.

“This Church is a national monument and we put out appeals on social media and many well-wishers came forward to donate funds for the repairs. Since the parish priest, Fr Oscar Quadros was not well, we had to get the permission for the repairs from the Bishop’s Palace through the Dean of the Goa Velha Deanery, Fr Benjamin Victoria. It was repaired at the right time and was strong enough to face the torrential rainfall this season. Fr Domingos Pereira was appointed as parish priest on May 31 this year and has well organised the Novena and the Feast on Sunday,” says Elias Fernandes, an active parishioner.