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Goa celebrates its annual ‘Carnaval’ or carnival from February 26 to March 1. The colourful festival, a vestige of the state’s erstwhile Portuguese rulers, is a celebration before the month of Lent followed by Catholics in Goa. With float parades, music, dance and culinary delights, over the decades, the exuberant celebration has been an eagerly awaited annual event showcasing Goa’s vibrant culture.
The capital city of Panaji has been adorned with carnival masks under the street-lights on the main Dayanand Bandodkar Marg from the offshore casinos on the Mandovi river to Miramar Beach, on the road running parallel to the river. The traffic in the capital will be diverted for the better part of Saturday, and the city’s gardens and open spaces will come alive with traditional music and dance over the next four days.
The four-day celebration that starts on Saturday marks the days before the month of Lent, observed by Catholics as a season of abstinence and prayer. Traditionally, the Lent season is about six weeks ahead of Easter, during which Christians abstain from alcohol, meat and observe fasts.
According to the Goa Department of Tourism, in the pre-Christian era, Carnival marked the end of winter and the beginning of spring. “Winter spirits were believed to rule the earth and had to be driven out to allow the spirits of summer to come in. It was a rite of passage, a transition from dark to light. Additionally, all the winter stores had to be eaten, as they would now begin to spoil with the warmer weather, and a period of fasting would begin, until spring brought the ability to lay in new stores of food.”
A legacy of the Portuguese, carnival celebrations in the state attract several tourists as much as it has locals eager to view float parades flocking to various parts of the state. While carnival celebrations are held across the state by the Goa Department of Tourism, in Panaji, the centre of the soiree, the Corporation of the City of Panaji (CCP) plays a major part in organising the celebration.
Panaji is the centre of action during the carnival. Like in other parts of the world, the celebration kicks off with an opening ceremony and has parades of floats in the streets. The streets are decorated with striking masks, colourful streamers, lights on its tree-lined streets. There are stalls selling food and drink, and this year, the Samba Square, a famous carnival venue will host a pop-up bazaar.
The floats wanting to participate have to register, and each float has to be compulsorily accompanied by music with traditional musical instruments, recorded music, brass band or a live band. The rules state: “Depicting of any religious scenes or deity, so as to hurt the sentiments of any community/religion, is strictly prohibited. Depicting of any political themes, figures personality or caricatures is also prohibited.”
The best float is judged based on originality of concept, costume, performance, music and the visual effect of “displaying the carnival spirit”.
The centrally located municipal garden Jardin Garcia de Orta is converted into the Samba Square, and the promenade along the Mandovi river also wears a festive look.
The float parades will start on Saturday afternoon and various artists including ‘Goa’s nightingale’ septuagenarian Lorna will perform on the first day of the carnival this year.
This year, the celebrations will have the addition of a stray dog adoption zone and a dedicated culinary zone for local food entrepreneurs to dish out their best.
On the last day, the traditional Red and Black Ball will be performed with men and women dressed in the colours for a dance performance. The CCP has also announced that this carnival will be a “zero waste carnaval”.
According to the Goa Department of Tourism, King Momo, or the king of Chaos, is a character derived from the Greek god Momus, the god of satire. Like in the many Latino Carnivals, the Goa Carnival also crowns a King Momo, usually “a large gentleman” who leads the carnival parade. The court of King Momo in Goa is usually made up of fire eaters, jesters, dancers, a brass band and other revellers on the streets of Panaji, whilst the King encourages people to “Kha, piye aani majja kar (Eat, drink and make merry)”.
The tourism department invites applications from “large hearted, jolly, fun-loving Goans” who wish to be King Momo. The application form seeks basic information about the aspirants, and asks them to describe themselves and state why they would be best suited for the place of prestige. This year, Emilio Dias from Raia in South Goa, has been crowned King Momo.
The first King Momo of Goa, Timoteo Fernandes, is now an octogenarian. He was the first King Momo of the parade organised in 1965, four years after Goa was liberated from Portuguese rule. He sat atop a bullock cart that year, but the next year, the Panaji municipality provided him with a jeep to ride in.
In 1967, the then government of Goa, Daman and Diu appointed a Carnival Committee to systematically organise the parade that has now become quite a commercial affair.
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