Namaste: UKKCA!

UKKCA logo

Last weekend was great! went to the annual ukkca convention which was on Saturday and met up with a lot of friends that I don't see often and met a few new people!

But first of all, quick overview of what the "U-K-K-C-A" in ukkca actually stands for and maybe a tiny little history lesson behind it. So it basically stands for United Kingdom Knanaya Catholic Association.

The Knanaya, (Kna for short) also known as the southists or Tekkumbhagar, are an endogamous group in the Saint Thomas Christian community of Kerala, India. Today there are over 300,000 knanaya people in india and elsewhere.

Kna Thomma

Most commonly the division is traced the figure of Thomas of Cana. According to these versions, Thomas of Cana was a Syrian merchant who led a group of 72 immigrant families from the Middle East to settle in India in the 3rd or 4th century (some sources place these events in the 8th century)
In 1939 Joseph Chazhikaden introduced and popularized a theory that the Knanaya were the descendants of ancient Jews. According to Chazhikaden, they originated in Judea, and later converted to Christianity, though they maintained their distinct culture and identity.

So as a kna myself we take our culture and heritage pretty seriously and we love to show of our pride,plus on the great side knanaya people are known to be big party people (especially the men, but deep down we're all a tad bit crazy!) Kna weddings are simply THE BEST!! oh the amount of food that gets served is incredible

Anywhoo UKKCA is all about celebrating the journey of those 72 families that started their great voyage and truly appreciating how long our traditions and values have been kept! The day kicked of with the holy mass and after that it was the rally of all the regional units doing a parade, e.g there was Birmingham,Manchester, Wigan etc etc and after that its a mixture of individual and even group performances that ranged from dancing,singing,skits and speeches,

Ah it was so much fun! cant wait for next year!!!