About Nativity of Mary
The Feast of the Nativity of Mary marks the birth of Mary, the mother of Jesus, and is kept every year on 8 September; in 2027 that is Wednesday, 8 September 2027. In India it is the closing day of the Velankanni festival in Tamil Nadu, Monti Fest for Konkani Catholics in Mangaluru, Udupi and Goa, the end of the Ettu Nombu fast in Kerala, and the start of the Bandra Fair in Mumbai.
In India, 8 September is a feast with several regional faces. A fisherman in Velankanni, a schoolgirl in Mangaluru with a basket of flowers, a family in Kottayam on the last day of a fast and a crowd climbing the steps at Bandra are all marking the same birthday.
Why the feast is on 8 September
The Gospels do not describe Mary's birth. The story comes from the Protoevangelium of James, an early Christian text that is not part of the Bible, which names her parents as Joachim and Anne. The church that marked her birthplace in Jerusalem, now the Church of St Anne, was dedicated in the sixth century, and the feast spread from the East. It reached Rome towards the end of the seventh century.
The date does not move. The Catholic Church keeps the feast exactly nine months after the Immaculate Conception on 8 December, and Kerala's Orthodox and Syrian churches keep it on 8 September as well.
| Where | What it is called | What happens |
|---|---|---|
| Velankanni, Tamil Nadu | Feast of Our Lady of Good Health (Arokia Matha) | Eleven days from 29 August, a night chariot procession on 7 September, Mass on the 8th |
| Mangaluru, Udupi and the Konkani diaspora | Monti Fest, Monti Saibinnichem Fest | Nine days of children's flowers, then blessed new paddy and a vegetarian family lunch |
| Kerala's Syrian churches | Ettu Nombu, the eight-day fast | Fasting and prayer from 1 to 8 September, with the big crowds at Manarcad |
| Bandra, Mumbai | Bandra Fair, Bandra Fest | A week-long fair at the Mount Mary Basilica |
Velankanni: eleven days on the Coromandel coast
The Basilica of Our Lady of Good Health stands on the coast in Nagapattinam district. Tradition tells of apparitions of Mary in the village in the sixteenth century, and of Portuguese sailors who survived a storm in the Bay of Bengal in the seventeenth and came ashore there. Pope John XXIII made it a basilica in 1962, and it is often called the Lourdes of the East.
- 29 August · Flag hoistingThe festival opens
Members of the Velankanni fishermen's panchayat carry the flag bearing Mary's image through the town. The Bishop of Thanjavur blesses it and it goes up the pole.
- 30 August to 6 September · NovenaMasses through the day
Prayers and Masses run many times a day in Tamil, English, Malayalam, Telugu, Hindi, Konkani and Marathi.
- 7 September · Chariot processionThe vigil of the feast
After the evening Mass, Mary's image is taken round the grounds on a decorated chariot at night, and a birthday cake is cut at midnight.
- 8 September · The feastMass and the flag comes down
Early Mass, the rosary through the day, and the flag lowered in the evening.
The crowds are huge: Vatican News put the 2025 count at about three million over the eleven days. Hindu and Muslim pilgrims come too. Some shave their heads as an offering, some bathe in the sea, and some move round the shrine on their knees. In Chennai, the Annai Velankanni shrine at Besant Nagar holds its own feast on the same days, and thousands walk there for Mass.
Monti Fest: flowers, new paddy and a vegetarian lunch
For Konkani Catholics in coastal Karnataka, the Nativity is Monti Fest, and it doubles as a harvest thanksgiving. The name comes from the Capela de Nossa Senhora do Monte, the chapel of Our Lady of the Mount in Old Goa, built in 1519. In Mangaluru the feast is tied to the Monte Mariano church at Farangipet, where the Goan priest Joachim Miranda revived it in 1799 after the community's fifteen years of captivity at Seringapatam.
The nine evenings before the feast are a novena. Children bring flowers to the church each day and shower them on a statue of the infant Mary, which is why the feast is also called Fulanchem Fest, the feast of flowers. On 8 September, sheaves of newly harvested paddy, the novem, are blessed at Mass and handed out to families.
At home, the grains are crushed and stirred into milk, coconut milk or payasam, and the eldest gives each person a little before lunch. The meal that follows, novem jevan, is strictly vegetarian, eaten off banana leaves, with custom asking for at least five vegetable dishes. The scholar Pratap Naik traces the flowers and the harvest timing to Konkani festivals of the Bhadrapad season, around Ganesh Chaturthi, that converts kept in a Christian form.
Ettu Nombu in Kerala and the Bandra Fair
Kerala's Saint Thomas Christians keep the eight days before the feast as Ettu Nombu, a fast of prayer and abstinence from 1 to 8 September. It is kept by Syro-Malabar and Syro-Malankara Catholics and by the Jacobite and Indian Orthodox churches. Accounts of its origin differ: one ties it to the fall of Kodungallur, another to a story of Christian women near Basra in the seventh century.
The largest crowds gather at St Mary's Jacobite Syrian Cathedral in Manarcad, near Kottayam. Pilgrims stay at the church from morning to night. The Rasa procession on 6 September carries gold and silver crosses under ornamental umbrellas, and on 7 September the veiled portrait of Mary and the child Jesus is opened for viewing, the nadathurakkal. On the eighth day the church hands out pachor, a sweet of rice, milk and jaggery.
In Mumbai, the feast opens the Bandra Fair at the Basilica of Our Lady of the Mount, a week of stalls and crowds that draws lakhs of visitors of every faith. Stalls sell wax candles shaped like hands, feet and other body parts, and people light the one that matches their illness or request inside the church.
What to write for Mary's birthday
Among Catholics in Mangaluru, Goa and Mumbai, "Happy feast" is the normal greeting on 8 September, and "Happy Monti Fest" is fine from anyone. For Kerala friends, the day is the end of a fast, so acknowledge the eight days. For someone on pilgrimage, wish them a safe journey and mention the intention they are carrying.
You don't need to be Catholic to send a wish. Velankanni and Bandra draw people of every faith. Keep it simple and devout, and don't joke about miracles, wax body parts or the size of the crowds.
Happy feast, Mummy and Pappa. Save me some of the novem payasam, and tell me who brought the most flowers this year.
Happy feast of Mother Mary's birthday. Hope you get home in time for the family lunch.
Eight days of fasting done. May Mother Mary bless you and your family on her feast day.
Praying you reach Velankanni safely. Please light a candle for us at Arokia Matha's shrine.
Happy Monti Fest. Hope you find a banana leaf and five vegetables wherever you are, and that you're home for novem next year.
Monti Festachim parbim. Mai Mariechem besanv tumchea kutmacher asum. (Monti Fest greetings. May Mother Mary's blessing be on your family.)
Mangalorean Catholics write Konkani in the Kannada script, while Goan Catholics mostly use the Roman script. The year's other great Catholic feasts in India are Christmas and, for Goa, the Feast of St Francis Xavier on 3 December.
How to wish someone on Nativity of Mary
For Catholics and Syrian Christians this is Mother Mary's birthday, and "Happy feast" is the everyday greeting. A good wish names what your reader is doing: the novena flowers, the blessed new paddy and the vegetarian lunch at Monti Fest, the walk to Velankanni, or eight days of fasting in Kerala. For someone keeping Ettu Nombu, wish them strength rather than food. Keep it warm and devout; no jokes about miracles or pilgrims.
Write a few lines in your own words, pick a design and share it as one link on WhatsApp, Instagram or anywhere else. They open an animated card made just for them, with no app and no sign-up.
Language tip: English, Tamil + Konkani, Malayalam.
When is Nativity of Mary in each year?
Nativity of Mary is on 8 Sept every year. Only the weekday changes.
- 2026
- 2027
- 2028
Frequently asked questions
Why is the Nativity of Mary celebrated on 8 September?
The feast is traced to the sixth century, when the church at Mary's traditional birthplace in Jerusalem was dedicated. It also sits nine months after the Catholic feast of the Immaculate Conception on 8 December, so the two dates match.
What is Monti Fest?
Monti Fest is the Konkani Catholic name for the Nativity of Mary on 8 September, kept in Mangaluru, Udupi and among Konkani families elsewhere. Children offer flowers through a nine-day novena, new paddy is blessed at Mass, and families eat a vegetarian lunch with the blessed grain.
Why is the Monti Fest meal vegetarian?
The Monti Fest lunch, called novem jevan, celebrates the new harvest, so it is built from the season's vegetables and the blessed new rice rather than meat or fish. Custom asks for at least five vegetable dishes served on a banana leaf.
What is Ettu Nombu?
Ettu Nombu is an eight-day fast kept by Kerala's Syrian Christians from 1 to 8 September, ending on the Nativity of Mary. Catholic, Jacobite and Orthodox churches keep it, and the largest gathering is at St Mary's Cathedral in Manarcad, near Kottayam.
When does the Velankanni festival start and end?
The Velankanni festival opens with the flag hoisting on 29 August and ends on 8 September, the Nativity of Mary. The night chariot procession on 7 September draws the largest crowd.
When does the Bandra Fair start?
The Bandra Fair begins with the feast of Mary's Nativity on 8 September and runs for about a week at the Mount Mary Basilica in Bandra, Mumbai. People of all faiths visit, and many light wax candles shaped like the body part or thing they are praying for.
Last verified by the Kehdoo team on .