The village of Moira is popular for two things: theanecdotes surrounding the people of Moira “ famously known as Moidekar “ andthe Moira bananas which when fried and dusted with sugar crystals are a riottoo, albeit on the palette. The church was important to these people, and it isthis year that the Our Lady of Immaculate Conception Church is marking its375th anniversary celebrations.
The parish priest Father Simplicio Nazareth Fernandes saidthat that the church was built in 1636 by two foreigners who were trying toescape the Dutch. “They sought protection from the Portuguese and in order toplease them, they built a church. Stones were brought by boat along the riverMapusa which, along with its tributaries, surrounds the land of Moira like amoat,” he informed. Moira is the only parish in Goa whose church is notcentrally located. Another interesting fact is, it faces the north and it isthe 17th church to be built in Bardez.
The church has six altars, the main one dedicated to OurLady of Immaculate Conception. The belfry has three bells and records say thatthey were brought from Old Goa in 1838. The tower bell is the second biggestbell among those in Goan churches. Moira was known to have seven temples andsome years ago a German archaeologist unearthed a shivling in the church. It ispurported that the shivling must have belonged to one of these temples. Theshivling is now placed in the ASI (Archaeological Survey of India) Museum inOld Goa.
The St Xavier’s High School which was started in 1962 isaffiliated to the church. “There are great men from this school all over theworld. After liberation, the number dwindled as other schools sprung up in thevicinity,” said Father Fernandes.
“The church is filled to capacity on Sundays, but manyparishioners go to the Mapusa church as it is more convenient in terms oflocation and also to do some shopping after mass,” says the priest. The peoplethough supposedly charmingly eccentric, are loving in nature and have bighearts. They are aware of the jokes made on their account across the state andlaugh at themselves. Though the jokes have stood the test of time, the bananashave not. Sadly the Moira bananas in the market no longer come from Moira, asnot a single banana tree remains in the village.
