Indo-Asian News Service
Panaji : Â The monsoon season in Goa is also time for a number of celebrations – and it sure is raining feasts and festivals.
Colourful and interesting, monsoon festivals or 'fetam' as they are known locally, are of both Hindu and Christian origin. And both communities celebrate them with tremendous enthusiasm and fervour.
Some festivals, not necessarily monsoon-time ones, cut across religious lines and a few are examples of what researchers call "syncretic" practices.
A large number of chapels celebrate feasts of their patron saints. The major Hindu festivals in this season are Guru Vyasa Purnima, Naryal Purnima, Raksha Bandhan, Ganesh Chathurti and Janmashtami.
Some involve stocking up provisions for the once-difficult monsoon season while others see young men jumping into village wells for a swim or take out boats for a ride along riverside villages.
Purumentachem Fest is celebrated mainly in capital Panaji, the commercial capital Margao and Mapusa. This is known for large fairs where vendors set up shop and people stock up in anticipation of the coming monsoon.
The Feast of St John the Baptist or 'Sao Joao' is celebrated June 24 all over Goa. Youths jump into any available water body – be it rivers or wells and generally have a good time.
John the Baptist was a 1st century preacher and ascetic. The tradition of Goans jumping into wells is believed to be linked to the belief that John jumped in his mother's womb in the presence of Mary, who was at the time pregnant with Jesus.
The north Goa village of Siolim has a unique tradition. Here two 'waddos' (residential areas) have a mock fight, accompanied by the din of traditional percussion instruments known as 'ghumots'.
A decorated canoe parade also takes place by the river and ends below the imposing St Anthony Church. Thousands of onlookers watch this spectacle, often in the pouring rain.
On June 29, the feast of St Peter and St Paul or Sangodd is celebrated all over Goa, and especially in the riverside villages of Candolim, Siolim, Ribandar and Agassaim.
St Peter is known as the patron saint of fishermen and during Sangodd, which literally means bonding, a colourful boat parade takes place with many of them tied together.
Later, 'Novidade' or 'Konnshechem Fest', the feast of new harvest, is celebrated across Goa with priests blessing the new corn in the fields, before celebrating the thanksgiving mass for the harvest.
It is perhaps celebrated most elaborately on Aug 21 in Taleigao village, five kilometres from here.
A procession starts from the village and proceeds to Old Goa where mass and prayers are offered and then moves on to the Adil Shah Palace (Old Secretariat), where the first ears of corn are presented to the governor.
This tradition has colonial beginnings when the honour of presenting the first harvest from Tiswadi sub-district to the Portuguese governor-general was conferred on Taleigao.
'Bonderam' or the festival of flags is part of the harvest celebrations in Divar, a small island off Panaji. Held on the first Sunday after Aug 24, it is complete with colourful floats and street dances.
This festival is unique for its mock fights between groups armed with 'fottash' – pea shooters made from bamboo stems – and local berry seeds used for pellets.
While Guru Vyasa Purnima is celebrated all over the country, it is a day where one's teacher is worshipped. Raksha Bandhan, popular in North India, is also observed here with great enthusiasm. It is a day when sisters tie decorative threads on their brothers' wrists as a symbol of love and is celebrated on the full moon night of the Hindu holy month of Shravan – during July-August.
Then comes the Ganesh Festival, celebrated on a huge scale in neighbouring Maharashtra, when idols of the elephant-headed Hindu god are installed at homes and are later immersed either in the sea or rivers after being taken in long processions.
Janmasthami, which marks the birth of Lord Krishna, also falls in this season.
Goans, irrespective of their religion, are by and large a festival-loving people and festivals here are celebrated with their traditional joie de vivre.