The charm here is that village festivals can be started without any great dependence on anyone, but the villagers themselves
Finally, the fair weather seems to be here (fingers crossed). This is the time when life in Goa gets back to normal. Not surprisingly, we are seen the launch of festivals once more. Not just the traditional ones, but also newly-created festivals. Ones that focus on a Goa we know, its uniqueness, and those aspects of life which we seem to be losing.
Last Sunday, the village of Pilerne in Bardez celebrated its Matiechem Fest, under the leadership of its parish priest, Derrick Fernandes. The festival of mud was a tribute to the potters who lived in one area of this village. This was packaged as an event of music, food and fun. Propelling its organising was Mario (Marius) Fernandes, the UK-returned Goan expat, who has spent half a lifetime building feasts and festival of a new, ecological and forward-looking kind in Goa.
Next weekend, Siolim will play host to a coconut festival. It is being organised at the Edricia Farm, and will see the coconut tree being "celebrated" on Oct 15, 2023 from 3 to 7 pm. There will be demos on coconut tree climbing, toddy tapping and coir rope making.
Together with this will be packaged workshops on palm weaving, broom making, clay moulding, and making palm baskets. Talks, paintings, coco artifacts, herbal products, coco peat, toddy, feni, jaggery, live music, food and shopping will complete the mix.
The idea of open-to-all, non-political and village-driven festivals have been catching on for some years in Goa now. Villages are learning from one another. Without doubt, credit needs to go to people like Mario, who have had the courage of their conviction, and the propulsion to make their dreams come alive. Others too have picked up the idea and implemented similar dreams and visions. Over the years, they have been making this happen, one village at a time.
So what, one might ask? What's the big deal?
There isn't money to be made at such festivals. Traditional food items are sold at very reasonable rates. Some festivals in the past, like the one at Socorro and the Vangodd at Saligao, would even feed an entire village (plus visitors) for free.
One might be tempted to see this as 'song and dance' over nothing. But, in my view, we could be missing out on a lot if we don't understand the potential of such festivals and events. This is more strongly felt once you attend a number of such festivals, and also encountering much of Goa's talents hidden away in village areas.
As anyone would know, there is a lot of talent lying unnoticed in Goa's villages and towns. Mostly, people don't interact with one another, or even get to know each other. Such social occasions can help to showcase what our villages are really capable of.
Such ideas can be replicated, and adapted from one village to another. There's no copyright over ideas, and it benefits if more of Goa's diversity gets thus showcased.
More credit deserves to go to someone like Mario Fernandes, who has thought these issues true quite well. Mario is always optimistic about its potential. When we spoke [http://is.gd/C1pRDl] some seven years ago, he was enthusiastic about "new festivals" coming up, and is always dreaming more out of his hat. Each is thought of carefully, to showcase Goa, build its talent and reputation, and create a helpful vision for the future.
Some being planned or launched include a Festival of Sharing (knowledge, skills, art, music, theatre), a festival of musicians (showcasing the heritage of Goa's music, with the age-old ghumots and more), a festival of youth (building young role models, with volunteers from all over Goa), and even a Joelacho Fest (a tribute to the late journalist and online cybernetter Joel Fernandes),
Fernandes, who comes up with ideas seemingly at the rate of one a minute, suggests how qualified tourism students could start their own guiding networks in Goa's many unique villages. He suggests: "If we get help from people in IT and the digital world, we could create a platform of tour guides in Goa. Anyone returning to Goa could ask for a tour guide to take them to a particular area. People coming could visit somebody's home and get introduced to real Goan food."
At last count, quite some time back, there were nearly 32 festivals in Goa. Some were well known, some famous, some that do not want outside people to come because they want to keep it local. Fests have been held in villages like Carmona, Saligao, Arambol, Siridao, Socorro, Pomburpa, and elsewhere.
The charm here is that village festivals can be started without any great dependence on anyone, but the villagers themselves. As Mario explains: "We always start the festival with no money. If you don't need money, you don't need a chief guest, you don't need sponsors, there are no prizes and no competition. But the end product is you get bonding and networking, and you transfer skills from the elders of the 70+ generation to the youngsters."
Thus some age-old traditions have got a new lease of life -- like the traditional 'ghumot' drum, the surichem pao (toddy-made bread), or mollam-making (coconut leaf weaving).
This creates a demand for traditional products, and gives people a chance to rebuild dying livelihoods. Not just that, it builds optimism at the village level, helps people connect with one another, and give a new lease of life for Goa's age-old traditions. Take a look at the traditional food and crafts put on display or on sale, and you get an idea.
Crowd-funding has been effectively used to build such festivals. When everyone contributes a little, a lot is possible. If you can, donate a few onions or potatoes. Or help prepare the food. Or sell it. Or even train the musicians. Everyone does a little, and a lot gets done. This could well be the kind of ideas that sustained the good side of Goa. For generations.
