LOUIS RODRIGUES
BELAGAVI
With the Novena to St Francis Xavier underway, Goan settlers in the Upper Ghat region of the districts of Kolhapur and Belagavi have begun their annual walking pilgrimage to Old Goa.
With their ancestral roots embedded in various comunidades of Goa, these Konkani-speaking settlers identified as Zonnkars, despite being away for over four centuries, have still kept their bonds with Goa alive.
The walking pilgrimage was started by Late Swamy Prabhudhar, the distinguished Jesuit, in 1982 from Ajara and it has been strengthening their faith which they strongly believe was bestowed upon them by St Francis Xavier, whom they affectionately address as Goencho Saib.
While over 1000 walking pilgrims are expected to reach the Basilica of Bom Jesus on December 2, the farthest among them are pilgrims from Ichalkaranji near Kolhapur.
Identified as the ‘Manchester of Maharashtra’ by virtue of continuous clattering of power looms, Ichalkaranji is over 250 kms from Old Goa.
Four walking pilgrims from Ichalkaranji, Xavier Fernandes, Ruzai alias Ravi D’Souza, Wilson D’Souza and James Bardeskar set afoot for Old Goa early Tuesday morning and are expected to cover the distance of over 250 kms by foot, reaching Goa on December 2. En route, they will halt at Nippani, Gadhninglaj, Nesari, Here, Bhedshi and Bicholim, the tradition that they have kept alive for over three decades.
According to Fr Joe Monteiro, dean of Gadhinglaj deanery of the Sindhudurg diocese, a large group from Gadhinglaj, Ajara, Chandgad talukas are expected to join the walking pilgrimage in large numbers this year. “With the love of Goencho Saib in our hearts, we recite Rosary and sing hymns while special mass is also offered at every halting place,” explained Fr Joe Monteiro, a Jesuit and nephew of late Swamy Prabhudhar.
Like every year, pilgrims from Savadatti belonging to different faiths, including Catholics from Khanapur and Belagavi, are expected to leave for Old Goa by foot.
According to Ravi D’Souza, one of the pilgrims from Ichalkaranji, people carry their food rations and other items and also assist in cooking the food, the experience, which he says is exhilarating. When in Sanquelim, Neil Monteiro, an entrepreneur and himself an ardent devotee of St Francis Xavier, serves the pilgrims appetizing food, while Thomas Fernandes and family from Vagator serves them steaming hot food in the campus of the Basilica on December 2.
A special mass is also organised every year for the walking pilgrims.
