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Thursday, January 10, 2008 The Siolim 'Zagor' by Reyna Sequeira Salil, Milan and I attended the traditional zagor festival at Siolim. The zagor was held this year on 31st December 2007 at Gude–Vaddo in Siolim. The zagor is jointly organized by the Christians as well as the Hindus of Siolim. There was a big fair surrounding the area of the maand. People lit a lot of candles and offered flower garlands to a place where there was a small ghumti (small temple). Zagor is staged at the Zagreshwar temple. There was a big crowd in the temple; the vehicles had to be parked at a distance and we had to walk for around 10-15 minutes to the actual place of the maand. There is a small gathering which proceeds to the Zagreshwar temple from both the sides of the temple which is termed as suvaari. We proceeded towards the northern side of the temple to come along with the suvaari. We enquired from the local people about the actual place of the suvaari and we realized that some people did not have much knowledge about the same. When we went to one of the local houses to enquire, the family living there urged us to come and dine with them. The food was already laid on their table. It contained both vegetarian and non-vegetarian dishes. The family treated us warmly in their house. They narrated to us about how for the past 2-3 years the suvaari from this particular ward had been banned from entering the Zagreshwar temple due to some tension in the village. We had a quick meal with this family and chatted with them for some time. We then proceeded towards the site of the suvaari. It was at St. Anthony's chapel. A big crowd had gathered which included Catholics and Hindus. Some men were beating drums and one young man had entered into a trance. People were shouting 'Don't leave our children' 'Amchea bhurgeank soddun vochun naka deva.' I was amazed. We were all lost in the crowd. I climbed a newly constructed house near the chapel and climbed on top of it so that I could get a clear picture of what was happening in the chapel. Some women gathered in the chapel and the in a trance just came running out from the chapel and was dancing with the beating of the drums. Married women from the surrounding houses were offering sannas – a sweet made from rice, sur (toddy from coconut palm) and coconut which is a speciality of the village – to the possessed person. The person in the trance was considered as God. Some people were objecting to our clicking photographs but one gentleman told those people to just move so that I could click pictures. Later, an announcement was made to the people to not click pictures of the possessed person. At one point of time the possessed person ran away from the crowd where people made way for him. Later we moved to the place of the maand. I saw many Catholic women participating in the zagor. I asked the women whether they had not gone for the midnight mass on New Year's eve - they told me no they will be going the next day in the morning. When we went to the maand both Catholics and Hindus were singing and performing on the stage at Zagreshwar temple. ENDS
