Tamil Christianity - Cakes and Wine?

I had the opportunity to do a project on Tamil Christianity in 2010 as part of an Arts Diploma course offered by DakshinaChitra. The topic was spurred by many incidents - one of which i had shared in the conclusion of my report and here again. AN INCIDENT It must have been 1997 or 1998, when my parents and I had gone Christmas shopping at the very last moment - December 24th morning - to Rasi Silks in Mylapore. We finished our purchase and wanted to have refreshments. I remembered the famous Karpagambal Mess which was just a stones throw away and we decided to go there. The waiter came to us, looked at us keenly and said. “What are you cake eating people doing here now?“ We were dumbstruck. I don’t remember the rest of the conversation but that we only had coffee. You can’t blame the waiter; he must have seen the stereotypical depiction of Christians in the movies as wine drinking, cake eating and partying kinds. There is no way he would have known that my mother had spent the good part of the two weeks leading to Christmas making adhirasam, murukku and mundhiri kothu. (traditional sweets made in the Tirunelveli region) so that it can be shared with the neighbours and some specifically asked for ‘items without egg’. There is no drinking of wine or any other spirit in the house. Yes we did eat cakes but they were bought from the bakery! If you would want to read more (the rest is not as juicy but definitely of some interest) you can  read it here.

Thanks to Malarvizhi Jayanth for her her posts in facebook which has made me want to share this. P.S. If there are any comments, suggestions, corrections or if anyone is interested in helping probe further please do get in touch with me at rhodalex@gmail.com. The report was hard work - if you want to use it - do let me know.