The staple food of Goa is Rice, fish and curry. The cultivation of rice begins in the month of June and the crop reaches maturity by mid of August which is ready for harvesting during the months of September and October. Families made sure that they had stocked up enough of jaggery and parboiled rice sufficient for preparing something sweet on the onset of August. It has always been customary in every Goan home to prepare something sweet on the first day of August. However, whenever the sweet was made children generally just enjoyed the process of making the sweet and gulping it down their throats. Most of them never actually bothered asking what the reason for doing what we did was!! It is necessary that children spend time with their grandparents, getting to know different stories behind practices that have been carried out down the generations. By doing so we become aware and also understand things happening around us in a much better way. A grandmother, Mrs. Joyce Carvalho e Aguiar mentions that the month of August is known for celebrating newness.
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But what’s really new in August? Well it is the paddy crop which is on its way to maturity and gradually to the date of its harvest. It is the new harvest. Hence the month of August is known for celebrating newness or ‘novidade’. Infect, it is a tradition that one sets one’s step into the month of August with something sweet to eat. Traditionally on the first day of August, every Goan family would prepare ‘Shevyo’. These are rice vermicelli, mixed with grated coconut and palm jaggery. ‘Shevyo’ can be prepared by placing steamed rice cakes into a vermicelli maker (Shevgo) either made of wood, iron or brass. Mind you!!! Not every family would own a ‘Shevgo’. If you didn’t have one then you had to borrow one from your neighbor or sometimes even rent it out for a day. Those families that didn’t prepare ‘Shevyo’, ensured that they didn’t deprive their taste buds, of something sweet, on the first day of August, by at least biting into a piece of Jaggery.
