India the peninsular country is having a 7500 km long coastline. In that, Chinnathurai, a small fishing village in Kanyakumari District of Tamil Nadu, may look like a dot. But it is standing tall among other fishing villages by helping our country to earn a lot of foreign exchange. The people in the village are professionals in catching sharks and large fishes. And also now many of its own people spread across the world in different fields ranging from software to management to engineering.

Formation of the Village

Chinnathurai as a village it was officially formed in the 1970s. Earlier it was a part of Thoothoorthurai which was a collective village of three villages namely Thoothoor, Chinnathurai and Eraviputhenthurai. The places near to the river or sea are called Thurai in Tamil which means ‘a place where people can get closer to the shore and also can do their loading and unloading from the boats’. Since Thoothoorthurai is on the shore of the Arabian Sea, it also attached ‘thurai’ on its name. Thoothoorthurai was actually a fishing village and it served as a small port in the Kingdome of Thiruavncore. The people were also trained in warfare and the king used them to guard the sea shore. In Thoothoorthurai the area of Chinnathurai was the main place for most of the village activities. Eraviputhenthurai got separated from Thoothoorthurai and formed as a separate village. During this time, Thoothoorthurai got transformed into Thoothoor because of the difficulty in pronouncing the name. In the 1970s, as the population grown, Chinnathurai also got separated from Thoothoorthurai. Since then the plan for the Church was drawn, because the Church was centre of administarion. St. Jude was made patron saint for the village. The Church in Chinnathurai was inaugurated in 1990. What ever the structures you see in this village are built by the village people on their own money. This village is really a self contained village

Description

Chinnathurai is on a corner of Tamilnadu. The Kerala border from the village is approximately 8 km. It is about 18 km from Marthanadam and 10 km south to Kaliyakkavilai ( both are prominent business towns in this area ). It is well connected to other near towns through roadways. Arabian Sea plays with its waves on the shores of Chinnathurai’s south part. Nithiravilai, a small business town which caters its day to day needs, as northern boundary. Eraviputhanthurai and Thoothoor ( both are fishing villages ) are fortifying its west and east boundaries respectively. The village is spread across 1000 acres of area approximately.

Chinnathurai is basically a Catholic Christian village but also is having some Hindu families, diversified like India. The village is having large Catholic Church on its centre. The Church can accommodate approximately 900 people for a service. It has five small shrines of different Saints on its various parts. There are 4 schools and one college inside the village and 2 schools outside the village which all imparts education to the people of surrounding places. St. Jude’s Community Hall serves as common hall for any village or family functions adds beauty to its panoramic view. St. Jude’s Sports Club is maintaining the library which inculcates the reading habits to its youth. A small Post Office and a petrol pump which is owned by the government also cater the respective needs.

The beautiful Anantha Victoria Maharani Canal ( AVM Canal )runs through the centre divides the village by Northern Chinnathurai and Southern Chinnathurai. A bridge on this canal connects both the sides. The bridge also connects the other villages on east and west of Chinnathurai as well. The village is having more than 25 acres as vacant land inside the village apart from the beach area covered with white sand which serves as the main recreation spot and playground for its people.

People

Chinnathurai as a village is on the shore of the Arabian Sea. The people live in this village are fisherman who venture into the deep sea to earn their daily livelihood. The fisher folks of this village use the innovative methods of fishing and uses modern devices like GPS, Echo sounder etc. even though they are not much educated. They travel by sea till all the borders of India for fishing. Using small mechanised boats, they stay on the sea for more than a month for fishing. Although the village is known as Christian village, some Hindu families are also in the village. Everybody in this village, be its Christian or be it Hindu, are living in harmony.

The Church and its Activities

The people in Chinnathurai and the villages surrounded by are all fishermen. It is believed that in 1558 St. Francis Xavier baptised ( converted to Christianity with self consent )these people. That was the start of Christians.

In 1978, Chinnathurai got separated from Thoothoor and was officially formed as a parish under The Thiruvananthapuram Diocese. But the foundation for the Church was laid in the year of 1963 and completed in 1988. The Church is being located in middle of Parish surrounding s with white sand. The Patron Saint for the Chinnathurai Church is St. Jude, the relative and one of the Apostles of Jesus Christ. The feast of St. Jude falls on 28th of October on every year and is celebrated grandly in Chinnathurai.

The day of the people in Chinnathurai normally start with a Holy Mass at the Church in the morning and they go to their work. The Church really unites the people. The parish is being governed by a Parish Council headed by the priest and its members elected by the people. Whatever the structures today you can see in Chinnathurai are built by the parish money.

Shrines

In Chinnathurai you can see a lot of Shrines of different Saints in different locations. In the early years most of locations were empty and in some locations the people started to live small groups. Since there is no big Church when St. Francis Xavier baptised the people in this region, he installed big Crosses made in stone in all locations where the people lived in groups for their worship. Later the people in that region constructed Shrines in the name of different Saints. In some shrines about 15 years before only the Crosses were removed and was reconstructed. This is how the shines in Tamil got the name of 'Kurusady', which means 'below the Cross'.

In Chinnathurai you can witness about 5 shrines right now. The first Shrine we are going to see is the Grotto of Our Lady of Lourd which is in the middle of the parish and near by the Church. This is believed to be that the Grotto was constructed in the year 1940. The Grotto adds beauty to the Parish along with the Church with the surroundings of white sand. There are many accounts that a lot of miracles happened in this Grotto.

The second one is St. Antony's Shrine and St Sebastian's Shrine both are on the shores of Arabian Sea. St. Nicolas' Shrine is located in the western part of Chinnathurai which was earlier on the shore of Arabian Sea. The St. Anne's Shrine is located a bit inside the village surrounded by the houses. All these Shrines are believed to more than a Century old. Keeping the tradition on, the people in the surroundings of each Shrine come together and celebrate the feast of the Saints on respective dates.