THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The ‘Vidyarambham’ ceremonies have big role in strengthening the foundation of religious harmony. This time also, the Capital City witnessed the churches and Christian institutions hosting the ceremony of initiating children into the world of letters, breaking religious demarcations. The Madre de Deus Church at Vettucaud, which was holding the ritual for the ninth consecutive year, had around 500 kids writing ‘Sreeyesu Namaha’ with their tiny index finger on a plate of rice grains on Thursday. This year, there was a slight decline in the number of participants as there were more than 600 participants last year. Apart from the 300 tots who had registered their names earlier, the rest turned up on the ‘Vijayadasami’ day. “This ceremony intends to propagate the message of a secular concept to the society. So far, there has been a fine response to this endeavour.” says Rosamma Fredy, educational convener of the church. The ceremonies which followed after the holy mass were led by six priests. Rev. Dr. Mathew Manakarakavil, Retired Principal of Mar Ivanios College, Rev. Dr. Gladin Alex, Parish Priest of the Madre de Deus church, Fr Ashlin Jose, Assistant priest, Fr Damien Assistant Vicar, Fr Joseph Chalil, Assistant Vicar of the church and Fr Aldrin Joseph, Superior of Villa Padua, Valiyathura, led the ceremonies. So significant was the participation of kids in the ‘Vidyarambham’ ceremony belonging to other communities also. Nisha S Nair and Anil Kumar from PMG Junction who brought their daughter Ananya N to initiate her into writing at the church said: “For many years, our family members have been staunch devotees of this church. We had a ‘nercha’ (offering) that our daughter will begin her tryst with the world of letters from here. She observed a three-day vegetarian diet before coming here to write her first letters.” Kids were distributed a gift packet comprising a book of alphabets, crayons, pencil, eraser and chocolates along with a certificate. The St Joseph’s Metropolitan Cathedral at Palayam initiated 20 kids into the world of writing, followed by prayer and holy mass. The ‘Vidyarambham’ ceremony was led by Fr John D Bosco, Parish Priest of the Church. Tots scribbled ‘Yesu’ on a bed of rice grains. The ceremony was from 7 am to 10 am. It was for the first time that the Orthodox Students’ Centre near Palayam was conducting the ‘Vidyarambham’ ceremony this year. Under the stewardship of Fr Koshy Alexander Ashby, Vicar, Student Chaplain and Fr Varghese Abraham, Assistant Vicar of St George’s Cathedral, 15 children wrote ‘Daivathinu Sthuthi’. All were given certificates and chocolates after the ceremony.
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