Goa Fairs & Festivals

With the majority of the population being Hindu, Goa has scores of festivals celebrated all around the year. All these festivals do not occur on fixed dates of the caldendar year, since they are based on the Hindu calendar.

Despite the long period of Portuguese colonisation, the Hindu festivals have retained their unique Goan character and are celebrated with deep fervour.
In Hindu mythology, Goa is called the land of the Gods and with good reasons. There are hundreds of Gods and Goddesses with differing names, tastes, rituals and traditions. Most of these have remained unchaged over the centuries while others have adapted to the changing times and circumstances.

Quite a lot of the Goan festivals are actually Jatras (feasts) of the local or family deity celebrated at the temple of the God or Goddess called Devasthan. It is a festive and colourfull occassion in the temple complex with thousands of devotees taking part in the celebrations and the palakhi (palanquin) procession.

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Hindu Festivals

(January/February)
Mahashivratri:
A celebration in the honour of Lord Shiva held at all the principal Shiva templeIs, it is celebrated in Harvalem, Ramnathi, Kavlem, Mangueshi, Nagueshi, Shiroda, Brahmapuri. Shirgao, Kasarpal, Fatorpa and Panaji.

Rantha Saptami:
Festival takes place in February at the Mallikarujuna Temple.Maruti-Zatraat Shri Mahalakshmi Temple is presiding deity of Panaji, Goa's capital city.

Mahalasa Jatra or Vijayarathotsav: (Chariot Festival)
It is celebrated at Mahalasa Temple of Mohini in Ponda.

(February/March)
Shigmotsav:
It is celebrated in all over Goa. Special celebrations at Panaji, Mapusa, Vasco-da-Gama and Margao. A spring festival celebrated on the full moon day of the month of Phalgun in March.

It is a grand five day festival of colour, celebrated distinctively in the villages, corresponding with Holi or Spring Festivals. Shigmo is universally celebrated in Goa, but specially in Panaji, Mapusa, Vasco Da Gama and Margoa.
Ghodemodni:
Or Parade of the Horse Riders, is part of Shigmo and is found in Fatorpa and Bicholim. Hypnotic and rhythmic music of drums and Whistles accompany the martial dance, which Parades down the main street, imitating horses and their riders.

Rombat:
Takes place on the second and third day of Shigmo. It is a Procession of men in traditional dress carrying banners and umbrellas dancing to the music of drums. Young boys wave green twigs, signifying the arrival of spring.



Drama Festivals:
Form an important part of Shigmo with most villages staging plays during the week.

Rangapanchami (Gulal):
It is celebrated in Kasarpal and Zambaulim.

Festival of Gade:
The three day at Mahadev Bhumika Temple attracts huge crowds.

Kalas Utsav:
It is celebrated on a major scale every alternate year at Sri Morjaee Temple in Pernem. Visitors from Maharashtra and Karnataka attend the seven day festivities which are socio religious occasions.

(March/April)
Ramnavami:
It is celebrated in Partagal - Canacona.

Chaitra - Pumirna:
It is celebrated in Borim, Sanquelim, Nagueshi, Chandranath, Cudnem and Mashem - Canacona. Gokiulashtami: Narve - Bichblim. Ganesh

(April/May)
This is home coming season for many Goan settled away from Goa. It is also the fruit season and Feni making season. A distinctive Goan aperitif, Feni comes from cashew apples. In addition it is toddy- tapping season.

(May/June)
Mirg:
Mirg is on 6th June. It is the start of the Monsoon season. The Christian Mirg is one day earlier. If the rains fail, prayers are offered to the Catholic saints born this month-- St. Anthony, St. John the Baptist and St. Peter and St. Paul. In Goa there is happy mingling of festivals and feast days for the common good of all.

 

Christian Fairs & Festivals

January 6: Feast of the Three Kings at Reis Magos, Cuelim (Cansaulim) and Chandor.
January 6:
Feast of the Three Kings at Reis Magos, Cuelim (Cansaulim) and Chandor.

February 2:
Feast of Our Lady of Candelaria at Pomburpa.

5th Monday in Lent:
Procession of All Saints of the Franciscan Third Order (only other besides Rome) at Goa Velha.

1st Sunday after Easter:
Feast of Jesus Nazareth at Siridao.

16 days after Easter:
Feast of Our Lady of Miracles at Mapusa.


21st August:
Festival of Novidades-offering of first sheaves of rice crop to the Head of State.

Monday of 12th to 18th October:
Fama de Menino Jesus at Colva.

3rd Wednesday of November:
Feast of Our Lady of Rosary at Navelim. This occasion draws thousands of faithful to Goa to participate in the religious event.

3rd December:
Feast of St. Fiancis Xavier, Patron saint of Goans at Old Goa.

8th December:
Feast of Our Lady of Immaculate Conception at Panaji and Margtio.

25th December:
Christmas, all over Goa with the customary Midnight Mass on gatherings and special Christmas Eve and with prayers gathering and special Christmas festivals. A Goan will leave his front door open during the festival as a gestures of generosity toward all who may visit his home.

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Carnival: Among the various colourful feasts and festivals feasts and festivals that Goa celebrates -with great eclat, Carnaval and Shigmo are the most rumbustious, awaited by the population with intense enthusiasm. Unlike 'Shigmo' which is also celebrated in some oilier parts of India, although under different appellations, 'Carnaval Goa's own, unique, and the Union Territorys contribution to India's other expressions at untrammelled revelry.
 

Goa Carnivals

Although introduced by the Portuguese who ruled this territory for over 50 years, from 1510 to 1961, the three-day festival primarily celebrated by Christians, has absorbed Hindu tradition-bound revelry and western dance forms, and stimulated by the artistry of the Goan genius turned into a pageantry of singular effervescence.

Among the various colourful feasts and festivals feasts and festivals that Goa celebrates -with great eclat, Carnaval and Shigmo are the most rumbustious, awaited by the population with intense enthusiasm. Unlike 'Shigmo' which is also celebrated in some oilier parts of India, although under different appellations, 'Carnaval Goa's own, unique, and the Union Territorys contribution to India's other expressions at untrammelled revelry.

If down the centuries Carnaval was enjoyed only by the local population, today its fame has crossed the frontiers attracting thousands of people from all over India to whom this type of extravaganza is at once riotous and different.

The participation of the Goa Government and the Municipal Councils in it and the post-liberation introduction of the King Memo and his colourful procession have endowed Carnaval with a new dimenion and it is bound to attract more people every year to this territory whose scenic beauty and white-sanded benches have already earned Goa high praise.

It was in the fitness of things that the Goa Government, through its Department of Tourism, should have given a boost to the celebration of the three-day Carnival festival as a major tourist attraction. Distinctly Latin in character, a legacy of Portuguese cultural tradition, the Carnival is not celebrated elsewhere in hidhi, and it wan in decline even in Goa in the last years of Portuguese rule. Its revival and celebration with an added zest was, therefore, on the cards as, after Goa's Liberation, tourism was being developed as a regular industry. This festival of three days of gay abandon, riotous revelry and merry-making now attracts to Goa thousands of tourists from all over India.


The word Carnival (Carnaval in Portuguese) is supposed to be derived from flu- Latin Carnelevarium or rarnem levarem, meaning "to take away meat", which actually happens at the commencement of the 40-day penitential period of fasting in commemoration of Jesus Christ's fasting in the wilderness, known among the Christians as Lent, during which abstinence from meat is a rule. The Konknni world venture, by which it is known among the illiterate masses, comes from the Portuguese intrude, in turn coming from the Latin Latin Introitum, meaning entry into the Lenten period.

Celebrated particularly in the Latin Catholic countries of Southern Europe, it appears to have originated in Italy as a substitute for the Roman pagan festival known as Saturnalia in honour of Saturn, the god of Agriculture, observed in the month of December as a period of unrestrained merry-making, as it signaled the rebirth of Mother-Nature and the beginning of a New Year. From Italy, in which country it was celebrated with éclat mainly in Rome, Venice, Florence, Naples and Turin, it spread out to other Latin countries such as France, Spain and Portugal and also to Germany and Austria. The Portuguese brought it to Goa as they also took it to Brazil. Where it is celebrated with undiminished gusto even to this day, as it is in Argentina and other Latin-American countries, where it was imported by the Spaniards, while it almost died away in Europe, except for a few places, like Nice, among others.

Brutal and city in days gone by, in Goa as in Portugal, with real street battles fought by groups of masked people armed with baskets of rotten eggs and saw-dust or wheat flour packets known as cartuchos and cocotex and syringes filled with coloured water. The Carnival festival gradually became more moderate, being of late confined to the halls of clubs and other recreation centres with balls, fancy dress parades and such other innocent passtimes.

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Shigmo Festival :

Holi in Goa is celebrated as Shigmotsav, which is a festival of farewell to winter and welcome to spring celebrated with colour, songs and dances to the beat of drums. Float parades depicting various scenes of mythology are also held.
Holi in Goa is celebrated as Shigmotsav, which is a festival of farewell to winter and welcome to spring celebrated with colour, songs and dances to the beat of drums. Float parades depicting various scenes of mythology are also held.

Shigmo in Goa is esentially a festival of the masses. It is so all over India, though it is celebrated under different names and in different ways in various parts of the country.

It is the festival of farewell to winter celebrated on the full moon day in the month of Phalguna(March), the last month of the Hindu calendar.

In Goa, which has always been land of temples, shigmo begins with Naman or collective obeisance of villagers from 9th moon day to full-moon day. During all these days, they are to 'shun' non-veg. food and all intoxicants.


From the 11th Moon day to the 15th moon day, various village groups clad in their most colorful dresses set out with festive mood with multi-colored cloths, torans, flags and column-like red spoted "Dwajas", beating drums and blowing flutes to gather at the village temples, and dance in the temple court yard singing various folk songs to the beat of the drums.

On the 5th day comes the real day of re-joicing. It is called "Rang Panchami" - it is practised differently at different places. The main function of the day, however, is the profuse use of 'Gulal' or red-powder. It's a symbol of rejoicing, when people throw it on each other as a sign of full-hearted greeting.

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Other Festivals :

 A time to express happiness at the arrival of spring is a 3-day festival of colour, fun and frolic providing a healthy entertainment for all. young and old. with khells, dance and parades. It is celebrated in February March.