BHARATI PAWASKAR
It will be a ‘fruitful’ afternoon, full of enthusiastic villagers, gathering at 3 pm at the Socorro church garden to celebrate Ponsachem Fest and Sao Joao together in a unique and unusual way. The Socorro Socio-Art and Cultural Association, Porvorim and the Botanical Society of Goa which are jointly organising the twin festivities at Socorro, boasts of 1000 plus participants in the festivities.
“It is the fifth edition of Ponsachem Fest that we have been celebrating each year, respecting this neglected fruit of Goa, which actually has many healing medicinal properties,” shares Fr Santana Carvalho, parish priest at Our Lady of Succour Church who has been supporting the fest consistently for the past couple of years.
The fertile soil of Goa produces many fruits and vegetables, some of which are synonymous to this land - like cashew, jackfruit and some peculiar varieties of mango that grow in abundance locally. To respect one of the largest fruits among these, the jackfruit, and to make people aware of its medicinal properties, the people of Socorro have been celebrating Ponsachem Fest for the past four years and NGOs as well as government run institutions are chipping in to organise it in a holistic and scientific manner. This year too, ICAR-CCARI (Indian Council of Agricultural Research - Central Coastal Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi) will be a part of the celebration.
“My role is to educate people regarding the various varieties of Jackfruit, conduct training programmes for people to make value added food products of jackfruit and its seeds, to make them aware of the nutritional values of these products and develop entrepreneurships. In fact we have provided training to tribal farmers and distributed machines for cutting and making chips and vacuum drying,” briefs Sunetra Talaulikar, subject matter specialist (Home Science), at Krishi Vigyan Kendra, who will be educating the people on the uses of jackfruit, its medicinal properties and on the products that can be made out of it.
“Much research work is going on this fruit, which is called Kalpavruksha, similar to a coconut tree, as every part of the jackfruit tree is useful. Due to its medicinal properties, Vietnam is importing the fruit from India. One can make use of it as raw, mature and ripe fruit. Goa has many jackfruit trees and they yield good crop. The crop is wasted as there are no takers. But due to the awareness programmes, this scenario is changing,” she adds.
Farmers in Goa are looking at the fruit with respect now. There is a change in their attitude and after doors to mining are closed, people are taking up agriculture, instead of selling their land and properties which is heart-warming, feels Sunetra.
The festivities began a day prior with a workshop on June 21 at Socorro Church with ‘Kopel making with local flowers and leaves workshop conducted by guest tiatrist Marta D’Souza. The workshop was attended by students from Our Lady of Socorro primary school. Many other workshops would be held on June 22 like the one to be conducted by agriculture graduate Priyanka Parab who would train the participants on how to look after one’s own tree including techniques like grafting and potting. Miguel Braganza of Botanical Society of Goa would give a talk on jackfruit tree and its importance. Sneha Govekar from Agriculture department would demonstrate on making drinks out of jackfruits. There would be stall selling jackfruit coffee, jackfruit ice-cream and jackfruit cakes. Nurseries would be selling plants and purument products.
There would be prayers at the church well, in respect of the life-giving water and to bless it. Then a jackfruit would be cut and distributed among the people. The special attractions of this festival are traditional Goan delicacies like sanna, saatha, pickles, chips, papad and other jackfruit products made locally. The fest also has Jaffee coffee (coffee made from jackfruit seeds), jackfruit biryani, jackfruit boiled seeds apart from displaying various varieties of jackfruits.
“We will be having Konkani music, live demo, comedy, skits and Goan dances till 8 pm,” briefs cultural activist Marius Fernandes, popularly known as ‘festakar of Goa’, as it was he who initiated various fests in the villages in Goa. “We wish to create content for the next century. The traditional Sao Joao festival too will be adding new dimension to the festivities. Usually Sao Joao is being celebrated by jumping in the wells which pollutes the water. But Sao Joao that accompanies the Ponsachem Fest at Soccoro will evoke a new culture in the society. Experts would educate people on water harvesting and conservation of fish in the water. There would be talks on water too,” informs Marius.
The locals are excited to celebrate water and to dress the well with fruits, flowers and leaves. The new brides from the village will be felicitated on this occasion and it will be a community festival and will be inclusive.
