NAGAPATTINAM (TAMIL NADU): Thousands of Christians across Nagapattinam, Karaikal and other Tamil Nadu districts did not celebrate Palm Sunday due to curfew and Coronavirus scare.
There were no gatherings, no waving of palm branches and no songs of ‘Hosanna in the Highest’ on the streets as Palm Sunday went quietly across Nagapattinam, Karaikal and other Tamil Nadu and Puducherry districts. “When the churches did not celebrate ‘Palm Sunday’ today, how could we? We did not decorate our houses with any palm branches, as we only like them to blessed by our church. We miss the mass today,” said JK Jayanthi, a 50-year-old homemaker from Semmarakadai Street.
Palm Sunday is a day celebrated by Christians across the world to mark the day when the Jerusalemites welcomed Jesus Christ into their city with palm branches in their hands on the Sunday before Passover Festival. Christians celebrate the day by collecting palm branches blessed by the priest, decorating and their houses, holding Palm Branch Procession around the churches, and making crafts out of them. None have happened on Sunday due to shut down of places of worship due to curfew and Coronavirus scare.
The churches across Tamil Nadu such as centuries-old Shrine Basilica in Velankanni and ‘Our Lady of Angels’ Church in Karaikal have been shut from March third week; many for the first time in several decades, due to concerns of spread of Coronavirus. “We did not distribute the palm branches, which we cut from our garden and bless, to anyone, as we are concerned, it could lead to the unnecessary gathering. We conducted three masses in Tamil, Malayalam and English, behind closed doors today simply without people. The masses will be relayed live on YouTube throughout this week from Shrine Basilica,” said Fr AMA Prabakar, the Rector of Shrine Basilica ‘Our Lady of Good Health’ in Velankanni.
The senior priest also delivered a sermon cum Palm Sunday via YouTube and prayed for the health of the people.
The Shrine Basilica was decently decorated on Sunday with Palm Braches to cheer the ‘faithful subscribers’ to follow the masses in YouTube. But, many churches could not do or afford that decent luxury. “Our parishioners, the people, do everything for us. We did not decorate anything. We finished off with a single mass on mass with a handful of nuns and church workers,” said Fr D Arokia Sagayaraj, the Assistant Parish Priest of ‘Our Lady of Angels’ Church in Karaikal.