Viva Carnaval Goa 2017!

If you have missed the Goa Carnaval festivities this year, here is a peek into the Panjim parade on 25th Feb. The general quality and diversity of floats was impressive. Many social causes like saving the girl child, following traffic rules and protecting local ecology and wildlife were colorfully portrayed by the participating groups.

There was a lot of hilarity and amusement, with spectators dancing along and taking pictures with the energetic participants. We hope you enjoy the pictures and recommend a visit to the next year's parade!

King Momo reins over the festivities

Dancers from FC GOA

Nimble Steps

Enter the Dragon

Fugdi Dancers from Quepem

A float depicting the local boar, with 'piggy' music created to accompany the float 

Les papillons du carnaval

A quick chat with the vintage car driver

Red-Eyed 'Recycled' dragon from the Mapusa contingent

Dancing with a Clown at the Carnaval

People in a hurry to watch the parade

Intruz (Carnival)

My very first introduction, to Intruz was when I was a child, all of five years. From our balcony, I saw a young local man on a bicycle, spray powder on a village belle. The girl was all decked up in festive finery and seemed to enjoy the whole thing. I was intrigued by what I saw and ran to the road, to get a better view.

Later that same day, a troupe of actors, men as well as women, came to our house and were ushered in, by my father to our courtyard. The whole household gathered around to see them perform.
As I watched the performance, I realized that the actors were all men playing women's roles, when required.The play dealt on local issues and was satirical as well as hilarious. It was the traditional Intruz Khel.

Intruz is the local Konkani word for what the world knows as Carnival. A corruption of the Portuguese word Entrudo; from the Latin word Introito, meaning the start of Lent.

Traditionally, throughout the towns and villages of Goa, Khels were enacted at the tintos (market place) and other public places where people would gather. At the end of the performance, a hat was passed around. Prominent people would invite the troupe, to perform for their household, for a handsome fee. Those were the days of innocent fun. Many a love affair would begin during these festive days, as licence was presumed to be given, for a girl and a boy to meet. The boy would spray powder on the girl or smear her face with indigo or other harmless powders . There were also the dances, organised during all the days of Intruz. People attended these dressed in different costumes.

Mock fights were held with "cochotes",- small paper bags in which harmless mix of powders were packed. Groups of boys from different wards, would usually gather around the church square. They would hurl cochotes at each other. On contact, the cochotes would burst in a cloud of powder. The group that made the maximum number of hits, was declared the winner.

The present day crowning of King Momo, his proclaiming his reign during the Carnival, colorful floats and the parades are a more modern expression of these traditions.

History of Carnival

Encyclopedia Britannica describes Carnival and its origins in the following paragraph: Carnival, is the merrymaking and festivity that takes place in many Roman Catholic countries in the last days and hours before the Lenten season. The derivation of the word is uncertain, though it possibly can be traced to the medieval Latin "carnem levare" or "carnelevarium", which means to take away or remove meat. This coincides with the fact that Carnival is the final festivity before the commencement of the austere 40 days of Lent, during which Roman Catholics in earlier times fasted, abstained from eating meat, and followed other ascetic practices. The historical origin of Carnival is also obscure. It possibly has its roots in a primitive festival honoring the beginning of the new year and the rebirth of nature, though it is also possible that the beginnings of Carnival in Italy may be linked to the pagan Saturnalian festival of ancient Rome. 

It is celebrated starting from "Sabado Gordo" (Fat Saturday), the Saturday before the start of Santa Quaresma (Lent) on Ash Wednesday. Traditionally, through out the towns and villages of Goa,
Carnival is celebrated in many European countries like Portugal,Spain,Italy, France (Mardi Gras on the French Riviera), Germany and some of the former European colonies in Africa and Asia.

Important to Caribbean festival arts are the ancient African traditions of parading and moving in circles through villages in costumes and masks. Circling villages was believed to bring good fortune, to heal problems, and chill out angry relatives who had died and passed into the next world. Carnival traditions also borrow from the African tradition of putting together natural objects (bones, grasses, beads, shells, fabric) to create a piece of sculpture, a mask, or costume — with each object or combination of objects representing a certain idea or spiritual force.

Feathers were frequently used by Africans in their motherland on masks and headdresses as a symbol of our ability as humans to rise above problems, pains, heartbreaks, illness — to travel to another world to be reborn and to grow spiritually. Today, we see feathers used in many creative forms incorporated in carnival costumes.

African dance and music traditions transformed the early carnival celebrations in the Americas, as African drum rhythms, large puppets, stick fighters, and stilt dancers began to make their appearances in the carnival festivities.

In many parts of the world, where Catholic Europeans set up colonies and entered into the slave trade, carnival took root. Brazil, once a Portuguese colony, is famous for its carnival, as is Mardi Gras in Louisiana (where African-Americans mixed with French settlers and Native Americans). Carnival celebrations are now found throughout the Caribbean in Barbados, Jamaica, Grenada, Dominica, Haiti, Cuba, St. Thomas, St. Marten; in Central and South America in Belize, Panama, Brazil; and in large cities in Canada and the U.S. where Caribbean people have settled, including Brooklyn, Miami, and Toronto and San Francisco. 

Panjim's Latin Quarters

Between 1830 and 1839, when plague threatened to destroy Old Goa, the Portuguese residents decided to move to Nova Goa. They settled around a natural spring, and called their new home Fontainhas. 

Street in the Latin Quarter 

The Latin Quarters are bound by the Altinho hill to the west and the Ourem creek to the east and tucked away from the bustle of the main city. The latin quarter is a town within a town, with it's own unique character and is in many ways a replica of a small town in the Iberian peninsula.

Local Spice Farms

These terraced heavens called kulagars, not only grow areca nut but also different spice plants, fruit and vegetable bearing trees, such as jackfruit, mangoes, chickoo, drumsticks and bread fruit. They are irrigated by springs from hills or water pumped from rivulets and fertilized using natural organic manure. Being thickly vegetated, the kulagars attract a lot of birds and other fauna. An ancient custom followed by these plantations, is to leave about a tenth of the ripened fruit on the trees to sustain the wildlife.

Enterprising owners of some of these have converted their properties into green havens, now popularly known as the Spice Gardens; promising interesting guided tours through the groves and vines laden with spices like pepper, cinnamon, cardamom, nutmeg, tumeric and exotic herbs.

Pathway leading through the groves

Museum of Christian Art, Old Goa

The Museum of Christian Art is one of the few institutions of its kind in Asia. It is located in the Convent of Santa Monica, Old Goa, in the vicinity of World Heritage Monuments.

Tiracol Fort

Located on the northern tip of Goa at the mouth of the Tiracol River, Fort Tiracol is reached by a ferry from Keri. The name is likely to have originated from the Marathi tir-khol translating as "steep river-bank".

View of the fort from across the Tiracol river.

Photo Documentary: Chapora River

For many, North Goa usually draws up pictures of Calangute and Baga with their crowded beaches, streets and their night-life. It was an unexpected adventure that drew me far north to the Chapora River. The vistas were simply breathtaking and I couldn't have hoped to find such a pristine or serene part of Goa still existing.

The next time you are in Goa, I recommend taking a drive up north and simply enjoying the charming little fishing villages, lush hills and creeks, with water so clear that you can see the fish beneath the surface.

Boat on the river

Basilica of Bom Jesus, Old Goa

Konkani Name: Borea Jezuchi Bajilika 

Portuguese: Basílica do Bom Jesus

Translation: Basilica of Good/Holy Jesus

The Basilica of Bom Jesus is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The basilica holds the mortal remains of St. Francis Xavier and is located in Old Goa, which was the capital of Goa in the early days of the Portuguese rule.

Exterior view of the Basilica

Construction work on the church began in 1594 and the church was consecrated in May 1605 by Dom Fr. Aleixo de Menezes, the then archbishop. The Jesuit church is India’s first minor basilica, built over 50 years before the Taj Mahal and has emerged as a landmark in the history of Christianity.

In 1698 a magnificent Florentine Mausoleum was commissioned by the last of the Medicis, Cosimo III, the Grand Duke of Tuscany. It was designed by the 17th-century Florentine sculptor Giovanni Battista Foggini and took ten years to complete. The silver casket containing the coffin was placed on top of it. The tomb of St. Francis Xavier has three parts, namely, the altar, the Florentine mausoleum and the silver casket.

The Church itself is considered to be one of the best examples of baroque architecture in India. Apart from the elaborate gilded altars and intricate marble flooring, the interior of the church is simple. The church also displays paintings of scenes from the life of St. Francis Xavier.

Candles offered in prayer at the Shrine

The Basilica of Bom Jesus is more than 408 years old and is open to the public. The remains of St. Francis Xavier attract a huge number of devotees (Christian and non-Christian alike) from all over the world, especially during the public viewing of his body every ten years (next Exposition from 22^nd Nov 2014 – 4^th Jan 2015). Devotees burn wax figurines and candles at the Shrine in faithful anticipation of miraculous healing, which the Saint is known for.

Devotees offer wax replicas of miracles that they are seeking intersession for. 

The Exposition of the Holy Relics of St Francis Xavier 2014

22^nd November 2014 to 4^th January 2015

This year Goa will be host to the exposition of the Holy Relics of St. Francis Xavier, an event that happens once every decade. Known as the Patron Saint of Goa he is loved and revered by one and all. People from all over the world throng to Goa to venerate and pay homage to the Saint, who is regarded as the ‘Apostle of the Indies’.

The Life of the Saint

Francis Xavier, SJ, born Francisco de Jasso y Azpilicueta (7 April 1506 – 3 December 1552), was a Roman Catholic missionary born in Xavier, Kingdom of Navarre (now part of Spain), and co-founder of the Society of Jesus. He with St. Ignatius of Loyola and seven others took vows of poverty and chastity at Montmartre, (Paris) in 1534, thus leading to the formation of the Society of Jesus, later known as the Jesuits. 

St Francis Xavier left Lisbon on 7 April 1541, Xavier's thirty-fifth birthday, along with two other Jesuits on board the Santiago. As he departed, Francis was given a brief from the pope appointing him apostolic nuncio to the East. He arrived in Goa, then capital of Portuguese India on 6 May 1542, thirteen months after leaving Lisbon.

During his time in Asia, St Francis Xavier worked as a missionary in Goa to restore Christianity among the Portuguese settlers. He set himself to learn the local languages. He devoted almost three years to the work of preaching to the people of southern India and Ceylon (now Sri Lanka). In addition, his missionary work extended through the Indonesian archipelago, Malacca, the island of Borneo and Japan. His overriding desire was to go to mainland China and bring Christianity to the vast country. To this end he made several attempts and permission was denied by the Chinese Emperor.   

Death and Burial

He died at Shangchuan island from a fever on 3 December 1552, while he was waiting for a boat that would agree to take him to mainland China.

 He was first buried on a beach at Shangchuan Island. His incorrupt body was taken from the island in February 1553 and was temporarily buried in St. Paul's church in Portuguese Malacca. On 11 December 1553, Xavier's body was shipped to Goa.

The Holy Relics

Silver Casket holding the body of St. Francis Xavier

The body is now in the Basilica of Bom Jesus in Goa, where it was placed in a glass container encased in a silver casket on 2 December 1637.The right forearm, which Xavier used to bless and baptize, was detached by Superior General Claudio Acquaviva in 1614 and has been displayed since in a silver reliquary at the main Jesuit church in Rome, Il Gesù. Another of Xavier's arm bones was later brought to Macau where it was kept in a silver reliquary. The relic was destined for Japan but religious persecution there persuaded the church to keep it in Macau's Cathedral of St. Paul. It was subsequently moved several times and is currently a relic at St. Joseph's Seminary and the Sacred Art Museum.

St. Francis Xavier was beatified by Paul V on 25 October 1619, and was canonized by Gregory XV on 12 March 1622. He is considered to be one of the greatest missionaries since St. Paul. His feast is celebrated all over the world on 3rd December, in remembrance of his death.

The body of St Francis Xavier which miraculously defied the laws of nature, of turning into dust, lies till this day in a silver casket in the Church of Bom Jesus Basilica in Goa, India. Once every 10 years, the relics are brought down from the mausoleum and placed in Sé Catedral, which is opposite the Basilica, for veneration.