REUNION ISLAND, INDIAN OCEAN, May 5, 2007: Every year many inhabitants of Villiele celebrate the traditional Mariamman Festival by offering rice for the ten days ceremony organized in the town’s temple. The collection took place yesterday, with young girls symbolizing prosperity participating. This began when Indian nationals came to Reunion as indentured laborers. The contract of employment provided any person living in Bourbon (as Reunion Island was called back then) was given a ration of rice. “When the Indian laborers received their rice ration, they invariably put away a handful of rice for the Hindu ceremonies performed at their little Temple,” said Sadayen Kichnin, a well-known priest of the area. “In India, rice was considered a symbol of wealth.”
The tradition continues and every year from April 22 to May 1, the Mariamman Festival is organized by the Istri Dakshynamoorthy Association led by Mrs. Mounichy. In a procession of drums through the village, with the inhabitants waiting at their gate, with a bag, a plate or a bucket of rice and some onions, there is a collection of food for the ceremonies. “The tradition requires young girls, symbols of prosperity, to carry out this collection,” specifies Sadeyen Kichenin, “which is then used as basic food at the temple for the ten days festival until the final procession.”