NAGAPATTINAM: Each July, long before the large crowds pour into Velankanni for its famed September festival, the Tamil Nadu coastal town welcomes a quieter but vibrant group of over 13,000 Koli fisherfolk from Mumbai who arrive during the monsoon fishing ban in the Arabian Sea.
For this coastal community, the off-season offers more than rest. It’s time for a collective journey of faith and tradition – where almost all the lodges in the temple town are pre-booked months before for their long stay.
The July 1-15 pilgrimage features daily sermons in Marathi, hoisting a flag bearing Marathi inscriptions, and the colourful presence of Kolis from Mumbai and other fishing settlements across Mumbai.
Koli men wear distinctive triangle-shaped dhotis with the names and photos of their boats printed on them, a statement of both identity and pride. Many carry miniature replicas of their vessels, decorated with candles, to offer in prayer.
But it’s the women who take the lead in carrying these symbolic boats along with coconut and candles to the altar, quietly anchoring this annual tradition. “The boat is more than a symbol. It’s our life, our sweat. We carry it with the same care we carry our families,” says Priyanka Johnson, a fisherwoman from Mumbai.
While the men are often away at sea for weeks or months, it is the Koli women who run the family, sort and sell fish at market. Their financial independence is visibly reflected in their attire. At Velankanni, they arrive clad in Kaashtha-style sarees, adorned with heavy gold jewellery from head to toe, not for display, but to express pride in self-earned assets.
“For keeping our men safe at sea and our families well on shore, we come every year with our loved ones, adorned with jewels that reflect the pride of our hard work, and offer our prayers to the Lady of Good Health,” says Grace, another fisherwoman.
Among the men, it’s all about stories of resilience. Anand Manbhat wears his boat’s image on his dhoti. “It’s part of who I am,” he says. Mathew Mumbaikar, a boat owner from Borivali West, wearing a thick gold chain with a pomfret fish-shaped pendant, recalls how his crew once survived a storm with only minor injuries. “That’s why we come here, not out of fear, but to stay grounded and grateful,” he says.
Though the legend of the Lady of Velankanni saving Portuguese fishermen lives on in their telling, the Kolis’ faith is expressed through ritual and remembrance, not spectacle.
With better transport and lodging facilities in recent years, more families have been able to make the journey in the past decades.
S Arputharaj, parish priest and vice rector of the Velankanni Basilica, says this has been going on for centuries. “They arrive early, quietly, but with deep cultural energy. It’s become part of our July rhythm. It’s the month of Novena for Our Lady of Mount Carmel.”