Pauline Furtado is suffering from a frozen shoulder and thefeast of St Francis Xavier is round the corner. “This time I will offer a waxreplica of a shoulder to Goencho Saib,” she says. Pauline is one of the manydevotees who believe that offering a wax replica of a body part in faith willcure the ailing part.
St Francis Xavier, fondly known as ‘Goencho Saib’, is knownworldwide for performing miracles. The novena days leading to the feast ofDecember 3 see sweet stalls lining the pavements, and vendors with a woodenplank hung around their neck on which wax items are placed, milling around.They approach people and ask, “Bai kite jai? Bab, bai, dadlo, bail, haat, pai,faat, tokli, dole or ghor? (What do you want “ baby boy, baby girl, male,female, hand, leg, backbone, head, eyes or house?)” While the price ofdifferent items varies from Rs 10 to Rs 50, a wax house costs one Rs 150. “Ghormaat marog (the house is costly),” one of the vendors quips.
“I have been selling wax replicas for the past six years,”says Anvar Binkadkatti, a laterite stone cutter from Karnataka who lives inCumabrjua and has been settled in Goa for the past 21 years. He says, “I boughtthese replicas for Rs 320 a kilo and sell them individually.” Anvar makes aprofit of Rs 7000-8000 in 10 days. His laments that he has to shuttle between ashady spot “ the wax melts in the sun “ and prospective buyers.
Most of the vendors buy their products from manufacturerswho set up a workshop at the venue of the feast and make the replicas dependingon the demand. One of them is Nilesh Industries from Divar who has been makingwax replicas for the last 15 years. “We begin at 8.30 am and finish at 5.30-6pm,” shares Suvarna who along with 12 other women melt the wax in huge pans,pour it into moulds, dip them in cold water and polish the final product. Thereare others who make wax candles at home in Narve, north of Divar. Travellingback and forth to Old Goa is their temporary routine during the feast.
“There are takers but no makers,” laments Shiva Naik, whohas been visiting each year to offer his prayers at the Basilica of Bom Jesus.“People prefer to offer money now instead of a wax replica,” says anotherdevotee John Baptista who feels that with changing times the pattern ofdevotion has altered too.
