Tourism
of Goa
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Christian
Festivals
Sao
JoaoIt
is the feast of St John the Baptist on June 24th. On this day young men
around Goa jump into wells to retrieve gifts thrown in by villagers.
This
celebration is called Sao Joao, one of the more famous Christian feasts in
the state.
The festivals takes place at the beginning of Monsoon
season in Goa and people of all ages jumping into wells, streams and ponds.
They get well tanked with feni and do this. In Siolim, the village
in north Goa's Bardez taluka, colourful boat races are organised on this
day.
This monsoon feast has special significance in Christianity
as it is dedicated to St John the Baptist, the firebrand prophet.
Christian
scripture tells us of John the Baptist leaping for joy in his mother,
Elizabeth’s womb when she was told of Jesus’ birth.
John,
the Baptist later went on to baptise Jesus in the river Jordan. The well is
considered to be a representation of Elizabeth’s womb and a jump into
it a sign of joy for the birth of Christ.
San Joao, like any other
Goan feast has that captivating spirit of merriment, colour and tradition.
People dressed in colourful outfits from several villages meet near a stream
front in carnival-coloured boats and floats. It is akin to the Carnival in
few ways.
But San Joao is not celebrated with the same fervour
throughout Goa. It is celebrated with less enthusiasm in South Goa. The
display of Sangodd, a decorated floating platform, made by tying two boats
or banana tree trunks together, which are then put into nearby streams to
float is a important part of the celebrations.
But in North Goa
this festival is celebrated with great vibrance. It is celebrated with great
fervour and gusto, particularly in Siolim, Anjuna, Candolim, Calangute and
Assagao. Getting to any of the main locations for the display of floats is a
task for anyone not on foot, with the small roads getting a decades share of
their traffic.
On the feast day, villagers begin the day by taking
a plunge in the village wells singing ‘San Joao’. The highlight of
the day is the Sangodd, on which people parade singing Mandos and religious
hymns.
The Sangodds are uniquely decorated and members of that
Sangodd wear a uniform dress to distinguish themselves from other groups.
This is also a time to celebrate one’s spirit of adventure. So, on this
day there are a number of competitions where youths get to exhibit their
talents.
The celebration of San Joao in Bardez (North Goa) goes
back nearly 150 years, when San Joao revelers from Chapora and Zhor villages
of Anjuna, Badem in Assagao and Siolim would come up year after year in
boats to the chapel of Sao Joao in Periera Vaddo, Siolim, to pay homage and
take part in the traditional dali.
People, especially the newly
married or those with a new-born (where new means before after June 24 of
the previous year, that is the previous Sao Joao) gather with the dali and
gifts containing seasonal fruits like moussrad mango (a Goan variety of
mango), pineapples, jackfruits and a bottle of feni.
The young and
old alike sing and dance to the beat of the ghumot and kansallem, with
lovely coronets of seasonal flowers on their heads and ‘drenched to the
bone’ with feni. Many then proceed to jump time and time again into the
streams, wells and ponds to keep away the cold from getting them.
Sao
Joao still retains it’s traditional flavour and this organisers say is
as a result of their decline to commercialize the event.
So if you
are looking for fun, frolic and a wet-carnival like atmosphere then San Joao
is definitely the best place to be on the 24th June.
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