The Carnival– Bennet Paes
Apparently the carnival tradition started hundreds of years ago in Italy. It
was a three-day folksy merriment of song and dance in colourful costume, and a
way of letting one’s hair down, only to have it raised to face a forty-day
period of penitence and abstinence from ‘carne’ (meat in Italian). This period
which, in Christian calendar is called the lent, precedes the celebration of
the resurrection of Christ – Easter. The abrupt change from a festive mood to a
sombre one was in demonstration of reverence to their religious belief. The
carnival was also punctuated by a superstitious act of beating of drums,
signifying beating the hell-out-of-the-devil, before crossing over into the
holy season of lent.
Over the years, the other European nations not only got bitten by the carnival
bug, but also carried the contagion to their colonies around the world. Quick
to catch it was Brazil, whose ‘samba’ today, drives Rio de Janeiro into the
biggest show of street-dancing on this planet.
In comparison, that very show in Goa, called the ‘carnaval’ in Portuguese,
and ‘intruz’in Konkani, is only a diminutive derivative of the Brazilian
bombshell. Brought here by the Portuguese in early times, it used to be
celebrated in every town and village, in gay abandon. Men, women and children
from all walks of life partook of it in whatever manner that met their moods.
Boys and girls frolicked in masks, that disguised their identities while
showering one another with coloured powders.
Goa boasted of a ‘Miguel Rod’ who used to be the king of the ‘thiatr’ on
stage, but there were two other famous Miguel’s – one ‘cuddo’ Minghel (blind),
and the other ‘xempea’ Minghel (nicknamed Minguel with a tail), both of whom
bore the genius of a Shakespeare as playwrights as well as in acting,
enthralling audiences in their street-level dramas, called ‘khells’ in
Konkani. They performed from village to village at the invitation of
carnaval-crazy bigwigs, and the frenzy eventually engulfed all of Goa. There
were times when ‘khells’ re-appeared after the lent-break, and carried on the
show for a week in celebration of the Easter season.
Since of late the format of the celebrated revelry has undergone a slight
departure from that of the early times. The legendary ‘King Momo’ takes the
centre stage in various ‘floats’ parading the streets of just the major towns.
Motorbikes and Maruti’s vie with crowds on foot, to jam the already suffocating
space, but the breath of joy keeps the floating revelers ever so jubilant. The
vibrancy of the occasion then reverberates through Goa’s dance halls, and the
message goes loud and clear: “Drink, dance and be merry”.
Another concoction of the carnival is ‘Mardi Gras’(Fat Tuesday in English),
a celebration that runs through a couple of weeks, and ends on Tuesday before
the beginning of lent. This tradition goes back as early as 1830 in New
Orleans, which State among all in the U.S., is the most noted for. ‘Mardi Gras’
is for New Orleans, what the carnaval is for Rio de Janeiro, and both are
getting better and bigger with each passing season.
Here in India, it’s the ‘Holi’ that matches Goa’s carnaval the most, both in
gaiety and pomp. It is a festival that kick-starts with the sighting of
full-moon in the month of ‘Phalgun’, which falls between mid-Feb and
mid-March in the Gregorian calendar. However, besides the colour-drenched
merrymaking that goes with it, the likeness of it to carnaval comes with little
ribbing. The ‘Holi’, like ‘Diwali’ and many other regional festivals,excites
the Indian palateto gobble up marketsful of sugar-soaked goodies, while the
carnaval urges Goans to take leave of their sweet tooth for a while, and head
for the calorie-intensive ‘cup-that-cheers’. What follows then is an ecstatic
salute to celebration: Viva Carnaval !!!
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