From Sabado Gordo[ Fat Saturday] to Mardi Gras[ Fat/Shrove Tuesday], KingMomo rules supreme while his subjects[who missed out on the party at "Nova Goa", "Cidade de Goa" and "Casa Monserrate" during the past week] go into a hedonistic frenzy. Good governance? What's that??
Viva Carnival
Miguel
King Momo Reigns SupremeBy Miguel Braganza
Carnival or 'Carnaval' is a hedonistic celebration that has got hitched to the Roman Catholic season of penance and repentance. Whether it is "Sabado Gordo" or 'Fat Saturday' or 'Mardi Gras' ("Fat Tuesday"), this four-day experience always precedes Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent. The Church hastens to make clear that Carnaval is not a Christian 'festival'.
An integral part of Carnival is what the legal eagles would call "Leave and License" to make one's own rules. King Momo is crowned the King of Good Times for a period of three days. He sets his own agenda and the people follow these new rules for the period of his reign. If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, King Momo should feel flattered by the musical chairs in our Municipal Councils and Panchayats! Viva Carnaval!
The Goan culture has been described at the recently held Gomant Vishwas Sammelan as one that "accepts, accommodates and assimilates influences by other cultures". Carnival in Mapusa is different from the one in Panjim or the Intruz in Neura. Each celebration is a synthesis of cultural influences in the particular area.
Neura and Dongrim Mandur are on the fringes of what was the colonial capital of Estado da India Portuguesa (EIP) that extended to Sri Lanka, then called Ceylon. Today's Velha Goa (meaning "Old Goa") was then called Cidade de Goa, the City State of Goa.
Panjim or Nova Goa shot into prominence after plague made the EIP regime set up base camp in the Adil Shah Palace. Carnival was not forgotten due to the plague then as it is not being let go of due to the tsunami now. Entertainment feeds itself. For Carnival it feeds itself well. About a century and half ago came a tradition principally at the Liceu (Lyceum) of a battle royal, with lime powder missiles called "cocotes" and talcum powder as the WMD - weapons of mass destruction. The battle lines were drawn between the students of Lyceum and the rest of Panjim. Liberation did not kill this event; the advent of the TV in the 1980s did.
In the mid-1970s, the Government of Goa, Daman and Diu suddenly woke up to the fact that Carnival would be a good way to attract foreign tourists that had begun trickling in as the "flower children" These products of revulsion against the US war in Vietnam had 'discovered' Goa anew. The Government took upon itself the task of organizing the carnival floats down the waterfront.
Renowned journalist, Fredrick Noronha, disputes my statement that first Chief Minister of Goa, Daman & Diu was a visionary. Yet, the man who started the Goa Education Society which, in turn, set up Goa's first college, Dhempe's at Miramar, was the man behind the official Carnival celebrations. It is perhaps a fitting tribute to him that the carnival floats are held on a road named after him, the Dayanand Bandodkar Marg, and that ends with his Samadhi and the college he started through the GES.
The carnival in Mapusa has always been different. The cocote fights near the 'tribunal' or the present Civil & Criminal Courts Complex are part of my memories. It was a gender sensitive, secular event in which all who dared, took part. Carnival fights were not for the weak hearted.
The cocote battles had the children of the then St. Andre MLA, Teotonio Pereira (resident in Mapuca), the Isani & Virani families, Roland Martins, Kishore Naik, Dilip, Ze Marie, Lino & Carlito, Dr. Jorge D'Souza, Joseph Mascarenhas and a few Mapusa resident on one side were ranged against Eric Menezes (now Vice-President of CMM) the Rodrigues-San Franciso Clan, Ricardo & Eugene.
There we were, Hindus, Muslims, Christians both Goan and mestizo. We just saw ourselves as a bunch of boys and girls who accepted religious differences as a mere fact, not a hurdle. Each celebrated their respective feasts at their houses. For Carnival, the celebration was in the streets.
It was a tradition to make the most recently married couple in Angod ward of Mapusa as the King and Queen for Carnival. The word "Momo" was not used in this town. It was "Raja" and "Rani". The couple was dressed in finery of local "rajas" or like the "Rane" and taken in procession from Angod to a spot near the "Delgado de Saude" (now the Urban Health Centre) at Feira Alta, Mapusa. There a Flag would be raised on Sunday morning to declare the beginning of the 3-day reign.
The Raja's flag would flutter only till the Tuesday when it would be shot down by a EIP trooper - a practice that lasted till 1961. In the post-liberation era, the venerable Dona Bertha Menezes family modified the carnival parade to bring it in sync with the times. After all, Pratapsingh Rane was a minister and later the chief Minister. Ridiculing the Ranes would just not do.
Now the carnival is officially sponsored in Panjim, Mapusa, Margao and Vasco. There are float parades, masked balls and Red/Black/Gold celebrations from Saturday to Tuesday in almost all towns. Enjoy yourself. This is a hedonistic festival for all. Let there be fun and goodwill; not malice, violence and ill will. Leave that to the politicians.
