Ooty: As the chill winter weather in the hills here always brings the western touch to Xmas celebrations in the Nilgiris, the Yuletide mood has already peaked up in Ooty, which has good number of public service-minded Christian population.
This apart, good number of churches across the hills and in fact the winter holidays for education institutions make Christmas a very festive and popular festival in the hills. The Christian residents in the hills, as always, have already brought the yuletide spirit to the hills as the glittering Christmas trees, stars, Santa Claus processions, and other decorations and illuminations reflect the mood.
While this captures the Xmas fervor in the hills which is ready to treat the tourists thronging for the winter break, it is pertinent to note that the homemade wine, cakes and chocolates make up for the traditional yuletide spirit in the hills that connects the modern era with that of ancient days of Xmas celebrations.
Stating that homemade wine is considered as a holy, sacred drink that is part of the Xmas celebrations traditionally over the centuries,D. Theburscius, a septuagenarian Christianresident here, who is still does make wine at home for Xmas, said that the homemade wine culture, though very old dating back to very ancient times, is on the wane now-a-days as only a few elderly persons who are good in that art, still continuing with the tradition for Christmas celebrations.
The recipe for homemade wine is very simple. He said one has to buy black grapes, which is generally known as juice grapes, pluck them one by one and use only the mature ones by cleaning them using water in a hygienic way. For a kilogram of grape, half-a-kilogram to one kilogram of sugar, and one litre of water should be added.
“The grapes should be crushed in such a way to make it a semi-solid pulp and it should be soaked in water along with sugar.
Then 50 grams of yeast mixed in 50 ml of lukewarm water and stirredwell, should be added to this mixture. A handful of country wheat (usii kodhumai in Tamil) should also be added. This mixture should be thoroughly stirred using a wooden spatula and allowed to mature inside an earthen jar. The jar should be closed and two plastic sheets should be used over the lid and knotted using a thread over the lid to make it extra air-tight. This mixture should be kept for at least 25 days in a relatively warm room temperature, preferably in the kitchen,” Theburscius explained.
After 25 days, the lid should be opened and sediments gathered on the upper portion of the jar in the mixture should be removed. Then the mixture should be double-filtered to collect the pure homemade wine. “The specialty of the homemade wine is that it is rich in anti-oxidants and Vitamin E, which is healthy and energizing in nature. Homemade wine is free from alcohol and it is considered as holy. Everyone knows the sacredness of homemade wine in the Christian tradition,” Theburscius added.
