Bandra Fair

It starts on the Sunday following the 8th of September (Bandra Fest) at Mount St Mary Church; the festival of the Nativity of Our Lady, the virgin-mother of Jesus Christ.

According to legend, the celebration began when a statue of St Mary was discovered floating in the Arabian Sea between 1700 and 1760, which a Koli Christian fisherman had already dreamt about earlier.

A Jesuit Annual Letter dated to 1669 and published in the book St Andrew's Church, Bandra (1616–1966) supports the claim.

[6] Many pitch up stalls selling religious objects and an assortment of candles shaped like hands, feet and various other parts of the body.

Stalls line the street from the gate at the bottom of the steps all the way to the old 'September Garden' located in the Mount Carmel Church compound, which is the tail end of the fair.

The Bandra Fair as known as Monti Saibini-che Fest in Konkani vernacular, is also popular outside India especially with the Indian Catholic diaspora.

A similar event called the "Bandra Feast" is organized annually by the India Social and Cultural Centre (ISCC) in Abu Dhabi and Bahrain.