Goa: festivals
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The important festivals
Gauree Malkarnekar, March 10, 2023: The Times of India
Phalgun, the last month of the Hindu lunar calendar, is a special time for the people living in Bicholim, Sattari, Canacona and other regions of Goa, for it is when the villages in the interiors come alive with the colourful and eye-catching rituals of Shigmo. But you’d be mistaken to view the pageantries as mere entertainment.
Shigmo is an occasion for locals to propitiate spirits good and bad and pray for conducive weather. But what it brings to the fore is the cocktail of cultural influences that is visible in the differences in how each of Goa’s regions marks the ceremonies in territories that were at different times ruled by a number of dynasties — from the Mauryas and Chalukyas to the Shilaharas and Kadambas.
The word ‘Shigmo’ itself is believed to have been derived from the Sanskrit ‘sugim’, which means a pleasant summer and, indeed, phalgun marks the beginning of spring. Traditional instruments like dhol, tashe and kasalem are a constant at most Shigmo festivities, as is the large cloth umbrella. Some rituals involve the erection of a tree trunk near the village temple, also called the ‘holi’. But the interpretation of Shigmo varies widely from village to village. All Shigmo rituals though begin with the invocation of local deities and spirits with Shiva, Santeri and Bhumika being the most common focus of the rituals, which are performed within temple premises.
Local lore also adds flavour to the festivities, which are initiated each year in the more urbanised Tiswadi taluka. The story goes that Dongri in Mandur village celebrated Intruz in the eleventh Hindu calendar month of Magh. But Goa’s Portuguese colonisers banned what they saw as pagan rituals in the areas under their control, of which Dongri was a part.
The locals’ lives were stripped bare by the diktat. But they found a way around it. Since they could not observe Shigmo, they sought permission to celebrate Intruz, or the Carnival. And thus it was that Dongri could worship its deities using the ruse of celebrating Intruz. It is a different era now, but call it the fear of the deities’ ire, enticement of a blessing, or simply community spirit, Shigmo continues to be observed with zest and fanfare, in novel forms and modes. Here’s a look at some of these celebrations:
GHODE MODNI: In parts of Sattari taluka, groups of men dance the ghode modni decked up in strings of aboli flowers tied to their arms and over their red turbans. With a protruding cane horse bust attached to their waists, the dancers perform ghode modni to rhythmic music, imitating a horse’s gait. In Sanquelim, the ghode modni parade makes a stop at the Hazrat BabarPir Dargah in the village to receive from the maulana flowers called ‘kawl’, without which the procession has never moved forward in recent memory.
HOMKHAND: A large pile of wood, up to 20ft high is burnt at night in Chorao in Tiswadi, the belief being that the fire helps drive out evil. Families from each household contribute wood for this event and villagers dance and sing praises to the local deity. Once the wood burns down, men run across the bed of embers.
KARAVLEO: In the border regions of Goa’s Sattari and parts of Bicholim as also in Virdi in Maharashtra, young boys who are yet to attain puberty are chosen for this ritual that sees them wrapped in green and gold sarees, their foreheads full of vermilion and heads decorated with orange blossoms, so that they can easily pass off as a young woman. They are carried on men’s shoulders from house to house as women worship them in remembrance of those wives who had once sacrificed their lives in the sati ritual.
SHENI UZO: On the first full moon night after Shigmo begins, Molcornem in south Goa hosts this ritual that begins dramatically with bare-chested men circling the village’s Mallikarjun temple in three rows, with three trunks of fully-grown betel nut trees harvested from the village’s kulagars (plantations). The men then move to an unlit, open ground nearby and light up the sheni, or dried cow dung. They begin dancing, constantly hitting a piece of lit sheni with a bunch of leaves. This causes a sparkling shower, which makes for a spectacle worth watching against the night sky.
SHIDYOTSAV: The open courtyard of the Shree Shantadurga Ballikarin temple in Balli is the site of an ac- robatic feat performed in honour of the deity during Shidyotsav, or the festival of ladders. A chosen man is perched atop a 30-ft high pole decorated with various types of flowers and suspended in the air from one end. A rope ladder is tied to the other end and held firmly by a group of people. The log is then rotated five times even as the ‘gaddo’, or the chosen one, invokes the deity in fulfilment of his navas, or vow.
VEERBHADRA: Observed in Sanquelim, Bicholim, Ponda and Sanguem, the attire of the designated local who dresses as Veerbhadra resembles that of South Indian royals, who once used to control Goa. The eleborate costume is completed by a leaf-shaped cardboard cut-out adorned with saffron flags that is placed on the Veerbhadra’s back. The faithful swear that once the attire is complete, the dancer is possessed by a spirit that allows him to perform the dance for over an hour.
