BHARATI PAWASKAR
C Christmas means family time. It’s time to share the spirit of the festival with the near and dear ones, strengthen the bonds that bring us together. People meet, greet and enjoy - they celebrate the joy of togetherness, with sharing and giving. Prayers are offered in the churches, the novenas attended in hundreds and the midnight mass on the night of December 24 is what most look forward to. The celebrations continue from midnight to early morning when again, it’s time to visit each other’s homes and share traditional home-made sweets and goodies. It’s during such times that people miss their beloved ones who are far away. Francis Fernandes, who works in Margao misses his wife Anne Costa Fernandes who works in Oman for the past few years.
“Anne comes down to Goa every year during the summer vacations (April-May) when our kids have holidays and four of us travel together or just be at home. But we do miss her during Christmas. Our son Feenan and daughter Ashmita who are 21 and 20 now, were too small when we last celebrated Christmas together, 12 years ago, and do not even recall the details. But yes, though their mom is away, they chat online almost every single day, and we three eagerly await her call soon after the midnight mass,” shares Francis who makes it a point to cook special festival delicacies at home, and send her the pictures.
In Oman, Ann too celebrates Christmas with catholic community living there. Working as a front desk manager at a five star property, Ann too cooks Goan traditional sweets like dosh, dodol, bebinca, kulkuls, nevri, sanna and plum cake. There is carol singing too in the neighborhood. Ann, along with other Catholics living in Oman, visits St Francis Xavier church for the midnight mass. The festival is celebrated joyously at both the places, Goa and Oman, however, the only difference is that as a family, the Fernandes’ are not together. But that does not steal away their spirit of joy and happiness.
The same is the case with Lolita and her husband Shaol Deniz. Both sons of the couple work abroad and cannot make to Goa to celebrate Christmas. Lolita recalls, “It was three years ago that all of us, we two and our sons along with their families were together in Goa during Christmas time.”
Lolita’s elder son Utkarsh Santan lives in Netherlands where they have holidays in July and November. The younger one Roshan works in the US and also can’t get holidays at the year end. But next Christmas, Denizs have planned to be together. “We shall be celebrating next Christmas jointly in Goa,” smiles Lolita who lives in Panaji.
Things are different with Conrad Menezes who joined his new job in UK this November and will be for the first time, away from his family during Christmas. It’s too soon and he can’t make it back to Goa to be with his family on the Christmas Eve, but he has some plans to keep himself joyful. “There’s Christmas music in the air and decorations all over the place in UK. The malls and stores are full with enthusiastic customers. Everyone seems to be busy in Christmas shopping,” says Conrad who will be going for the mass and then attend a small get together with a few Goan friends who are settled here and some totally new friends too. “But I am missing my family a lot and my friends, who are all in Goa,” he laments.
Jobs and work takes people away from their homes and it is during the festivals that the void is felt all the more. Festivals like Diwali, Ganesh Chaturthi, Eid and Christmas bring people and families together. In a diverse country with so many religions and faiths, where a string of festivals adorn the pages of calendars each month, it is this spirit of togetherness that knits the relations.
Be it Fernandes, Deniz or Menezes - the members of these otherwise close-knit families may be living away physically and for certain valid reasons but their hearts are never apart. Bonded with ties of love and respect for each other, the seven seas do not possess the strength to break these thicker-than-blood connections. It is the festival times that put the relationships in a testing mode, only to emerge as winners.
