Agnesians spread Christmas cheer through Navidad 2011

Mangalore, December 22: As a prelude to this year's Christmas festival, the city based St Agnes College showcased a variety entertainment through 'Navidad 2011', an annual Xmas tiding programme.

Noted social activist and former president of Maand Sobhann Loius Pinto and his wife Patricia Pinto were the chief guests of the evening.

The celebrations began with a prayer song by the St Agnes Special school students. Three students dressed like messengers of peace were the emcees. The students from the commerce section presented a dance which was quite colourful.

Filling up the gap between the programs was Margerie Texela who did a good job of quizzing the audience on the various aspects of the festival. Those who answered the questions collected their prizes on stage.

Following the dance was a large group of Agnesians who rolled out Christmas carols one after the other. This was accompanied by students dressed like Joseph and Mary who depicted the times when Jesus was born at Bethlehem. They enacted the birth of the lord and even had Santa Claus coming in and throwing away goodies at the audience.

Later on the stage function was conducted. Principal of St Agnes College Sister Prem D Souza had before her a box filled with lucky draw coupons bought by the audience. Mr Loius Pinto did the honours of picking up the coupons and distributing the prizes to the winners. Andrea D Souza won the lucky draw in the adults section. Keerthi Shetty won it in the students section.

The motive of the Navidad show was to donate some amount of money to the needy as charity. Hence, a cheque was handed over to Anita D Souza and her family for the purpose of building a house. Anita thanked the St Agnes College for its gesture.

Addressing the gathering chief guest Louis Pinto said, “Christmas is a time when there is celebration everywhere. It is like magic and reminds us that we must give our glory to god. Sharing and caring is the main motive of the festival and it is good that charity is being done today.”

The stage programme was followed by a special play written and directed by Rajni Patrao titled the “White Christmas”. It was a story of two spinsters, Ruth and Martha living together.