A Tale of Two Islands: Shavout and Pentecost in Cochin's Harbour

Around five hundred years ago, among the early European ships that anchored on the southern coast of India, came a group of Saint Peter Nolasco’s Mercedarian priests. They built a church on Vallarpadam Island, located within the natural harbour of Cochin, where the Periyar River meets the Arabian Sea. This church was dedicated to the Holy Spirit.

Whether the priests imagined that the faith they brought with them would take root in this land, or that their church in Europe would itself face challenges in the centuries to come, we don’t know. But last Sunday, as has happened for generations, the Vallarpadam Church observed the Feast of the Holy Ghost, a key festival in the Christian calendar.

Just across the backwaters, on another island — Mattancherry — the community at the historic Jewish Synagogue was celebrating Shavuot, a major Jewish festival. Both events, though different in form and context, fall around the same time of year and share historical and thematic links.

During one of the heritage tours in Old Cochin, a thoughtful visitor asked: Is there a connection between Shavuot and Pentecost, or the Feast of the Holy Ghost?

It’s a very good question.

Let’s take a closer look.

Shavuot: A Jewish Festival of Memory and Harvest

Shavuot, meaning “weeks” in Hebrew, is celebrated 50 days after Passover. Traditionally, it marks two major moments in Jewish culture and history:

1. The first wheat harvest in ancient Israel — a time of agricultural gratitude.
2. The giving of the Torah (the Law) to Moses and the people of Israel at Mount Sinai — a defining event seen as the formal establishment of Israel as a community guided by divine instruction.

It is one of the three pilgrimage festivals in Judaism. Historically, Jews from many regions would travel to Jerusalem to offer thanks at the Temple — a tradition still remembered symbolically today.

Pentecost: A Christian Festival with Jewish Roots

The word Pentecost comes from the Greek pentēkostē, meaning “fiftieth,” because it too falls 50 days after Easter. In Christian tradition, it commemorates the moment when, as recorded in the Book of Acts, a group of Jesus’ followers experienced a powerful event: a sound like wind, what appeared like flames, and the sensation of being filled with a new spirit. They began to speak in many languages, communicating a message to a diverse crowd in Jerusalem.

This happened during the Jewish festival of Shavuot. That is why so many people from across the region were gathered in Jerusalem at the time — not specifically for a Christian event, but for an existing Jewish pilgrimage festival.

The Christian interpretation of Pentecost views this as the moment when the followers of Jesus, who was by then no longer physically with them, were empowered to carry forward his teachings — a kind of symbolic beginning of what would later be known as the Church.

Historical Parallels

Both Shavuot and Pentecost mark moments of transmission:

• On Mount Sinai, a moral and social code was given to a people in the form of the Torah.
• In Jerusalem, during Shavuot, followers of Jesus reported receiving a guiding presence, understood as the Holy Spirit.

In both cases, the themes are similar: gathering, guidance, and a new beginning.

Cochin’s Cultural Intersection

The reason this conversation feels so relevant in a place like Cochin is because all these elements meet here:

• The Jewish community in Kerala, believed to have arrived in the first century CE, possibly even visited by Apostle Thomas himself.
• The Christian community, including the ancient Thomas Christians, whose tradition traces back to those early encounters.
• The European missionaries, who centuries later built churches and carried their own evolving understandings of these feasts.

So when two age-old festivals are celebrated, across two islands in the same harbour, it’s more than coincidence — it’s a reminder of how cultures, memories, and faiths travel, intersect, and take root in new soils.

Vallarpadam Church

Mattancherry Kadavumbhagam Synagogue

For the Walkers 

Some visitors on the heritage tour find these intersections fascinating and enriching; others approach them with curiosity or cautious distance. But nearly all appreciate the chance to see how historical traditions coexist, not just in books, but in the living calendar of this coastal town.

Understanding Shavuot and Pentecost side by side helps us appreciate that history is rarely one track. Often, it is a braid — of traditions, people, and beliefs — shaped by time, travel, and place.

May First

*"The Carpenter's Recollection" – A Labour day  Reflection in the Voice of Saint Joseph*

I was born in Bethlehem, city of David, the city of my ancestors. But I left it behind, carrying little more than my tools and my dreams. Bethlehem had memory, yes, but not enough work for a man trying to make an honest living. Nazareth, though small and rough around the edges, offered opportunity. The Romans were building, and so were the Herodians—roads, fortresses, palaces. Just a short journey from the growing city of Sepphoris, Nazareth drew tradesmen like me who could shape wood, stone, and future.

In Nazareth, I hoped to shape more than just wood. I hoped to find a life of peace, of purpose. And then I met her—Mary. There was a stillness about her, a strength that didn't demand attention but drew it nonetheless. I saw in her someone who could make a home out of a workshop, a family out of faith.

Then came the moment that shook the ground beneath me.

She was with child. And I was not the father.

I will not pretend that I understood. No man would. I felt betrayed, bewildered—until the dream came. The angel didn’t explain everything. Just enough: “Do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife.” It was enough. I trusted the voice, and more than that, I trusted her.

What followed was not easy. Whispers followed us through the market. Gossip curls its way through small towns like smoke, and it choked me more than once. But we stayed. We worked. We waited.

Then came the census. We returned to Bethlehem—not for celebration, but registration. Mary was heavy with child, and I was heavy with worry. I knocked on door after door, but no one opened. I was a carpenter, not a man of standing. And so, we ended up where the animals slept. There, in the straw and silence, I held the light of the world in my arms.

No midwife, no priest. Just me, trying to comfort Mary, trying to swaddle the impossible in cloths I had sewn myself.

And then, danger. Herod’s blade came hunting. I had another dream—Egypt. I gathered what little we had and ran. A man will do anything to keep his family safe, even cross deserts into strange lands.

Egypt was not welcoming. Foreign tongue, foreign gods, no kin to turn to. But I found work—odd jobs, heavy lifting, doors to fix, wheels to mend. I stood outside temples I did not enter, waiting for someone to need a hammer or hands. I found bread. I made sure we had enough.

We returned when it was safe, but never quite the same. I raised Jesus in Nazareth, where people never forgot the odd beginnings. Still, I taught Him my craft—how to work with patience, with care, how to respect each grain in the wood, each rhythm in life.

I am remembered as “the just man.” But I was just a man—working, wondering, waiting. What carried me through was not strength or certainty, but love. Love for Mary. Love for the boy who grew into the world’s hope. And love for the quiet dignity of honest work.

Historical Note:

Nazareth in the 1st century was a modest village in Galilee, but it was close to Sepphoris—a Romanized city undergoing heavy construction during the time of Joseph’s life. Historians believe this could have drawn skilled laborers from surrounding areas. Unlike Bethlehem, which had political and religious significance but limited economic opportunity, Nazareth’s proximity to Roman urban projects made it attractive for tradesmen like Joseph.

A Message for Labour Day:

To those seeking work, facing rejection, or holding families together on small wages—Joseph's journey is yours too. Quiet, faithful persistence. Work done in the background. Love that builds futures out of uncertainty. In a world that praises flash and fame, may you find strength in the steady hands of the carpenter.

B Thomas

Colonial India Heritage Studies

The Shade We Forgot

Good things happen to bad people.

Bad things happen to good people.

Or perhaps, as age settles in, good and bad simply happen — to old people.

Some call it harmless, but I think it is a quiet injustice that the Aarya Vepu — the noble neem — is now unwelcome in many Christian premises. Once a familiar, healing presence, it is now replaced with trees of little purpose. In the fierce summers of our land, when the skin cracks and the soul grows restless, the neem’s shade was a balm. Its breeze was not only cool but medicinal, a living blessing.

But now we plant പാഴ് മരങ്ങൾ — barren trees, soulless ornaments.

Who will speak for nature when even memory begins to forget?

Long ago, in a different land, giants walked among men.

The Anakim were among them — a race of great size and strength, descendants, it was said, of the Nephilim, those ancient offspring of fallen angels and mortal women. It was a bloodline cursed by heaven itself, a remnant of a time when the boundaries between earth and the divine were recklessly crossed.

God judged the fallen angels harshly; their children, the Anakim, remained — living in the hill country of Canaan.

When Joshua led the Israelites into Canaan, it was said he waged war against the Anakim, driving them out and destroying many. Yet some escaped and found refuge in a city called Gath — one of the last strongholds of their kind.

Generations later, from Gath came Goliath, the giant who defied Israel and fell to the sling of young David. Goliath, and perhaps his brothers, were the lingering echoes of a forgotten race, remnants of a war that stretched back to myth and mystery.

It is worth remembering: the Philistines, who lived in that land during David’s time, were themselves newcomers — migrants from distant shores of the Mediterranean. Like Joshua’s people, they too were not the original children of the soil.

History, like memory, is never as simple as we like to believe.

Here, in our own land, when Western medicine was rare and costly, our grandfathers revered the neem — Azadirachta indica — for its healing powers. Its leaves, bark, and breath were our shield against sickness, our answer to summer's cruelty.

Now, we forget.

We forget the sacred tree that gave without asking.

We forget that refuge is not always something we build — sometimes it is something that grows.

And the land, like a patient giant from forgotten days, waits in silence under the merciless sun.

B Thomas for FCHW

Passover Reflections: Freedom, Faith, and the Stories We Carry

As the sun sets and we gather around our Seder tables, may this Pesach bring you liberation from all burdens, a return to what is essential and true, and a deeper connection with your story, your people, and your purpose.

Passover is not only a festival of remembrance—it’s a sacred invitation to storytelling. Almost like a commandment, we are urged to recount the tales of our ancestors, to pass them down with reverence and wonder. Among these stories, none shines brighter than that of Moses.

In 1956, Cecil B. DeMille gifted the world The Ten Commandments, with Charlton Heston’s unforgettable portrayal of Moses—a prince of Egypt who became the shepherd of his people’s freedom. Decades later, director Ridley Scott and actor Christian Bale reimagined the Exodus in their own cinematic language, reminding a new generation of the drama and majesty of this ancient journey.

The story of Moses, once a royal in Pharaoh's court, is one of divine calling, courage, and humility. The Bible speaks of him as "the humblest of all men," the one to whom God spoke face to face. Through plagues and partings, wilderness and wonder, Moses led with a quiet fire—a guide not only for his people but for all who seek freedom, justice, and truth.

Later, when the Prophet Samuel anointed King David, he invoked the legacy of those who came before: "the courage of Moses and the strength of Samson..." A lineage of strength rooted not in might alone, but in faith and divine purpose.

This Pesach, may we all remember the power of storytelling, the weight of history, and the enduring light of freedom. 

Chag Pesach Sameach.

B Thomas

Colonial India Heritage Studies

Santa Cruz Basilica, feast day.

The feast week is on.. 

Onam Greetings

The most happiest Day of our Year. 

The Golden Sunlight of the Onam Morning.

The enchanting Flower Column. 

Sumptuous vegetarian Onam Sadya lunch. 

The after noon nap. 

Onam Kali. 

The Onam Games at Forum Mall. 

The Falcon Mall, Maradu

By far the Falcon Mall at Maradu is a cool place to go to in terms of distance, convenience and comfort, from Fort Cochin, for dinner and some cinema when one is staying in Kochi for more than two days. It also gives a visitor opportunities to interact with the locals outside the tourism circuit. The Daily Market there gives some good option for fresh spices at a local rate. Rest everything is a mall one might have experienced everywhere else. 

Mulakku Vadai

There is nothing like the global taste of the local delight. The aroma of Mulakku Vadai (Flour mixed with green chilli, onions and ginger) frying in the oil on a rainy day triggers a craving making the mouth water. A hot tea with milk along with the vadai will make the after noon perfect. 

Нет ничего лучше глобального вкуса местных деликатесов. Аромат Мулакку Вадай (мука, смешанная с зеленым перцем чили, луком и имбирем), обжаренная в масле в дождливый день, вызывает тягу к еде, от которой потекли слюнки. Горячий чай с молоком и вадай сделают послеобеденное время идеальным.Нет ничего лучше глобального вкуса местных деликатесов. Аромат Мулакку Вадай (мука, смешанная с зеленым перцем чили, луком и имбирем), обжаренная в масле в дождливый день, вызывает тягу к еде, от которой потекли слюнки. Горячий чай с молоком и вадай сделают послеобеденное время идеальным.

Kochi

Despite the rain, the day can be steaming in Kochi. Not far from the fort is the Hill Palace Museum. Nice place to dig deep into the history of the land. On the way back a stroll around the royal town of Tripunithura in the rain and a stop at the beautiful Syrian Church would make a memorable half day. 

Call or Message us. 

Pesah

The week of pass over, I was travelling through the villages of Andhra.
To be around our synagogue at Mattancherry on the auspicious day was my priority but unfortunately could not make it.

2nd March 2018

I wasn't  sure about going to Shri Nehemia  Mootha's tomb today for lighting my Sabbath candles. But by 4pm I had a strong urge to go and took a bus to Mattancherry across the river. When I reached Chakka Maadam, the evening sun was still bright and it was too early for the candles. I lit them anyway.

Being a Friday with the Dutch palace on their weekly holiday and the synagogue closed in the afternoon in preparation for the Sabbath, the touristic Mattancherry was hardly crowded. I walked through the empty old street to the Bazar where there was a small ally leading to the back water I had seen earlier which offered a captivating view of Sir Robert Bristow's Willingdon Island. 

After spending some time among the old buildings which are heaped in history, I walked back to the synagogue, hoping and praying one day the entire Mattancherry would be rebuilt to its old glory with its bazars bustling with activities and filled with international crowd as it once was, before it was too late. Some of the buildings have deteriorated so badly it's not possible to repair them. 

By the time I reached the synagogue, the Sabbath lights were already lit and the Shamash was getting ready to receive the members and hoping for the Meniyan for the Sabbath starting prayers. 

There was no Meniyan this week, the non-Jewish tourists kept coming to the synagogue even though it was closed and stood looking at the historic clock tower, the group of students from the RJ college of Architecture, Bangalore, was very eager to know about the synagogue and its history and kept asking questions to those who were willing to share the information with them. 

I was told a tourist couple who used to come to the synagogue regularly wont be coming anymore as they were returning. They waved me a sad good bye as they walked past me after the evening prayers. 

Farewell my friends, till we meet again. 

Sadly, I walked back to the Jetty and took the last ferry back to Ernakulam. We were lucky there was enough water at the low tide for the boat to moor at the jetty. There were few students from the Semester At Sea which is wharfed at Mattancherry wharf with me in the boat. I didn't knew the World Odyssey had called on our port and to see the ship all lit up at night took the farewell sadness away for a while. 

Sabbath Shaolom. Thank you Adonai, for one more Week!

Hotels around Mattancherry Synagogue

For the convenience of those who want to stay near the Synagogue for Sabbath. 

"A list of hotels for information purpose only."

Please check the ratings and comments of users at Trip advisor and other such service providing sites.

1. Daffodils Spice Court

217/A, AB Salem Road, Mattancherry, Cochin - 682002, Kerala, India

Tel.: +91 484 2221133 Mobile : +91 9497105133

email: info@daffodilshotelsandresorts.com

website: www.daffodilsspicecourt.com

Contact Person: Aneesh Antony

The closest to the synagogue, within ten minutes walking distance. 

2. The Waterfront Granary (A Museum Hotel)

6/641, Bazar Road, Mattancherry, Cochin -682002, Kerala, India

Tel.: +91 484 2211777/2211177 Mobile: +91 9847321333

email: fomwaterfront@gmail.com

website: www.thewaterfrontgranary.com

Contact Person: J. Uday Kumar (General Manager)

15 minutes through the Bazar Road, Mattancherry. Please note, Bazar Road is the oldest and perhaps the busiest street in the town, narrow and crowded with trucks, tuk tuks and people. After 6pm, the entire scenario changes, with the shops closed, bazar is no longer a busy area. On a Friday evening, its better to start early for the Synagogue or take a tuk tuk, its rather easy to walk back, by the time the prayers are over at Synagogue it will be around 7pm and the Bazar Road is bare and wide for an easy walk back. 

3. Fragrant Nature

Near State Bank of India Calvathy Bridge, Calvathy Bazar Road, Fort Cochin-682001, Kerala, India.

Tel.: +91 484 4156700 Mobile: +91 94977 15639

email: dhannia@fragrantnature.com

website: www.fragrantnature.com

Contact Person: Dhannia U.S. (General Manager)

A five star facility at 20 minutes brisk walking from the Synagogue. Being on the same road like The Waterfront granary, maneuvering Bazar Road during day time is a challenge. Tuk Tuk or other means of hired transport to Synagogue for the Prayer on the Friday evening and an easy walk back after 7pm. 

First tour of the year

Cherai, in the first week of the New Year. The super moon had its effect on the tides. Water was so high, there was not much beach to even walk on. 

Mattancherry - Ernakulam - Parur - Chendamangalam - Mala and Cherai Beach on the way back. 

It may not be possible to tour all these Jewish sites in a day and do it well. So we generally do Mattancherry and Fort Kochi a half day and start early the next day to visit the other monuments.