Fr Apollo Cardozo SJ
Come monsoons, the Goan community celebrates a number of harvest festivals with religious fervour and follow the customs and traditions handed over by their ancestors, such as the Touxeachem Fest (Feast of Cucumbers), associated with the feast of St. Anne, the mother of Mary, the Konsachem Fest (feast of the first fruits of the earth, the new corn), celebrated first in Raia, a village in South Goa on the occasion of the feast of Our Lady of Snows, the patroness of the Church and later in other villages. Another harvest festival that is gaining popularity of late is the Patolleachem Fest or Patolleo Festival. Patolleo is a sweet dish made from the new paddy “ rice, along with grated coconut and jaggery wrapped in turmeric leaves, which are found in plenty during this time of the year.
In Goa, Patolleanchem Fest is celebrated on August 15 by the Christian community, the same day the country celebrates Independence Day. It is on this day too that the Catholics celebrate the feast of the Assumption of Our Lady into heaven.
Patolleanchem Fest is celebrated on a grand scale by the villagers of Socorro in Bardez, at the Church of Our Lady of Socorro (Nossa Senhora do Socorro). The Socorro Socio-Art and Cultural Association of the village, comprising of seven wards (Vaddos) takes the initiative of organising various programmes, which are thematic every year.
The programmes include performances of traditional folk dances such as kunbi, dhallo, fugdi, sopeardade, moraile, ambopikotto, etc by the villagers and others who participate in it. They also depict various trades and crafts, such as weaving of palm fronds, making mats and brooms done the traditional way. A traditional brass band is always in attendance.
The highlight of the festival is the distribution of the patolleos and the puddes to the guests prepared by the villagers and the traditional lunch comprising of traditional dishes, such as rice, samarachi koddi, fish kismur, melgor, vonn, served on plates made of leaves, cooked in selected houses of different wards, after the prayer and blessing by the priest.
Patolleanchem Fest is a unique festival since one honours the jaggery based sweet dish, patolleo. It depicts rich old Goan culture and makes known the skills known to the elderly people to the younger generations. It also becomes relevant as the lesser known facts about Goan culture and heritage are popularised at this time. This fest is a great unifying factor for the people of the village as much love and camaraderie is spread during the celebrations.
(The writer is a Jesuit and director at St Thomas Stephens Konknni Kendr, Porvorim)
