TGLife
The third edition of Ramponkaranche aani Voddekaranche Fest will be celebrated at Arambol village on September 29. Conceptualized by cultural activist Marius Fernandes to revive the dying vocation of traditional fishing in Goa, the fest aims at introducing the nuance of the trade to GenNext and to the visitors from outside the state.
The art of practicing fishing in the sea with the help of rampons (fishing nets that are thrown by hand from onboard traditional wooden boats or canoes (called ‘vodde’ in local language) must not die. The new generation is not keen in hard work that their parents and grandparents did for years. The growing competition from the mechanical trawlers demotivates small fishermen from adopting their traditional way of fishing, as it fetches less catch. As the mechanical trawlers take away all the fish in the sea, those in small canoes are left with no fish. This forces the new generation from entering their family vocation and instead, take up small jobs.
“These family vocations will die in course of time, if not continued by the new generation. It is to preserve the beauty of the tradition and culture that we are organizing this fest year after year,” says Marius who initiated various such community festivals across Goa and which are now becoming a regular phenomenon in the villages.The fest will begins at 10 am with a Pasoi (a leisurely procession walking down through the village roads) with the participation of Arambol villagers who would start from Mount Carmel Church and arrive at the Arambol beach. Singers and musicians will join the procession with ‘ghumots’, ‘mandale’, ‘kansalle’, saxophones (alto and soprano), violins, accosting instruments etc.
Upon arriving on the beach, the ramponkars from the fishing community will go to the sea in their wooden canoes to catch fish. When the rampon is thrown in the sea and enough fish is caught in it, people on looking from the seashore will join hands in pulling the rampon and fetching the fish to the shore. Then the fish catch will be sorted out, identified and documented by the Don Bosco Media team. Meanwhile, children’s group of Arambol will present the welcome dance.
This year around 2000 people will be offered free food “ local red rice, fish curry, freshly fried fish, godshe etc cooked and served by the locals of Arambol. To begin with, pej will be served in katti (coconut shell) and clay pots as there will be no plastic usage in the festival. This year’s theme is Ghumat, because it is the first festival after Ghumat was declared as the state instrument. The entertainment team will offer various programmes “ Katti dance, fugdi dance, mandos, dekhani, shetkar and ramponkar dances. The musicians will gather at the venue from Saturday night onwards. The women folk in their homes will be busy preparing food for this community festival. Some of the popular faces from Goa - Wendell Rodricks, Prajal Sakhardande, O’Luv (Olav Rodrigues), Carlos Gonsalves are attending the festivity.
