GOAN FEASTS

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CHOVOTH

Ganesh Chaturthi, popularly called "Chovoth" in Goa, was celebrated with the usual pomp and fervour this month. While some households immersed the idols in one-and-a-half-day after the traditional aartis, fugddi and pujas have been performed, some people kept them as long as 21 days.

The Goan Hindu community celebrates umpteen feasts like their Christian counterparts. But there is nothing comparable to the festivity witnessed at the fime of Ganesh Chaturthi. Moreover, it is an occasion for many a Goan, living in various parts of the country and even abroad, to return to his ancestral home in the village. It is a great reunion for most families.

On the auspicious occasion the house if full of devotional songs, packed with people and with so many neureos, Goa's typical sweets, for the kids. The non-Hindu neighbours too receive their annual quota of delicious neureos. There is no limit to the type and amount of lighting, ornamentation and fireworks during the festive days.

Besides the usual idol of Ganapathi, in certain villages, they keep other colourful idols to enhance the decorative appeal. In recent years, the habit of decorating the deity's surroundings with moving objects and special effects is much in vogue. One just has to visit the picturesque Raneacho Zunvo in Bardez to behold the variety of special effects the islanders create for the Chovoth, which usually lasts there for five days.

The Hindu community celebrates the harvest puja on the second day of the festival. When they ceremoniously bring the ears of paddy and offer it to Lord Ganesh, besides the 'mattov' on top of his head. One can see every fruit and vegetable of the season dangling from the 'mattov'.

The most visual aspect of the festival is, of course, the immersion ceremony. They gather the colourful idols, designed in various poses and designs, from the neighbouring houses at various points and perform artis on the road. Then they walk with the idol, on their heads, to the pond or riverside, for the eventual immersion, with the fireworks making the loudest possible noise. The mood is quite infectious, and even some Christians feel that they too are celebrating...at least in the predominantly Hindu areas, where "amguer Chovthik ieat ham" (do come for the Chovoth) is a common salutation.

BONDERAM

By now everyone knows about the Divaddechim Bonderam festival, which is a celebration on the eve of the new harvest on the emerald Divar island. However, at the time the Bonderam parade passes through the village to the typical sound of the traditional fottaxeo, merry music and exuberant dancing, the rice in the field is not ripened as it should have been. But it's the merry spirit which burgeons every coming year...Of course...it began on a bright note but care need to taken that it does not become too commercial and carnavalish.

The crowd spills over along the parade route and at the decorated shamiana, where the chief guests and others important invitees sit (I don't know how they can stand the blast of the decibel-dominated modern band).

The dance, which follows the parade of decorative floats later in the evening, too attracts a massive young crowd. One could virtually judge its proportions by the continuous crowd, which the flat-bottomed ferry-boats were unloading on the Divar island.