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Over 7,000 devotees at Katchchathivu feast
View(s):More than 7,000 Catholic devotees on both sides of the Palk Strait gathered at the Katchchathivu islet yesterday to celebrate the annul feast of St Anthony, considered by the faithful to be the guardian of fisherfolk communities on the oceans.
The Feast High Mass was conducted in Tamil by by Rev Fr Joshep Lurduraj of India and in Sinhala by Rev Fr Robinson Wijesinghe.
The feast was organised by the Bishop’s House of Jaffna and the District Secretariat, with the Navy assisting in the preparations.
Sri Lankan devotees started arriving on the islet by Friday noon, and Indian devotees joined them after going through the formal registration process.
The Jaffna Cooperative Society had a temporary shop selling basic products for devotees at reasonable prices. Money exchange facilities were arranged by local state banks.
The feast was attended by the Jaffna’s Bishop Rt Revd Dr Justin Gnanapragasam, India’s Consul General S. Balachandran, Chief of Defence Staff Ravindra Wijegunaratne, Navy Commander Piyal De Silva, Northern Naval Commander Meril Wickramasinghe, and other senior naval officers.
The Navy provided meals and infrastructure facilities including electricity, drinking water and sanitary facilities. Temporary jetties were constructed for people to secure their boats conveniently, and Navy lifesaving teams and a medical team with a doctor were deployed to ensure the safety of the devotees
attending the annual festival.
More than 7000 devotees attended the feast
The mass was conducted in both Sinhala and Tamil
Senior Navy officers at the feast. Pix by Amila Gamage