SUNDAY, JUNE 16, 2024
Frazer Andrade
The Igreja de Deus Espírito Santo of Margão, established in 1564 (the current edifice dating to 1675), was the second church to be constructed in Salceté. According to Fr Francisco de Souza, it was Fr António de Quadros, the then provincial of the Jesuits in Goa, who saw that the seed of Christianity was taking roots in the land of Salceté and set out on multiplying churches and missionaries, thus deciding on establishing a second parish in Salceté, in Margão. The church celebrates two major Feasts namely, the Feast of Our Lady of Immaculate Conception on December 8 and that of its patron, which is celebrated as the Feast of the Pentecost on the 50th day after Easter. The feast was traditionally celebrated by president of the Confraria de Deus Espírito Santo e santíssimo sacramento (established in 1663) which was a confraternity comprising of the Catholic Brahmin community. The members of the confraria wear a red knee length cotton tunic (opa) and a red chest length cape also made of cotton (murça).
After the High Mass, the president holding a staff (aar) would accompany the celebrant priest who held a monstrance, in an eleborate procession led by an individual holding a huge eleborately decorated red processional banner bearing a golden dove representing the Holy Spirit with seven radiating rays below the dove symbolic to the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit, on one side and an embroidered monstrance on the other. There was also an attendant brass band, with the chime of the church bells in the background and fireworks to add to the uproar of sounds, as the procession progressed.
As of date, the feast is no longer celebrated by an individual member of the confraternity, but rather by the confraria as a whole or sometimes may be a perticular ward or church association. On the evening of the Vespers, a day before the feast, children would flock to the church to experience a spectular array of fireworks staged on the church grounds. During the Novena, after the Vespers and on the Feast day, there would be a brass band performing on the octagonal band stand (pavilhão) outside the church.
It is a fact that the Jesuits in Goa were forbidden from organizing processions in 1589-90 according to decree No. 122 of the third Jesuit Congregation for the province of India. However, like many other directions, this one too, on processions was never taken seriously. Dr José Pereira, in his works speaks about 18th century practices followed during feast celebrations which included erection of bamboo arches covered with mango branches, palm fronds or leaves of wild palm, on the church grounds at regular interwals. These would be somewhere between 7 to 32 in number, he mentions. During the novenas and the feast, before and after Mass, gunpowder based canon like bombards called ‘fozne’ were lit. These were were ignited about 150 meters away from the church on a bund behind the old Capelinha de São Francisco Xavier (now relocated to the opposite side), situated next to the Margão circle. The vibration and sound produced by these fozne was of a very high decibel.
May is a month not just meant for picnics and summer holidays, but is also traditionally that part of the year which requires one and all to stalk in provisions needed for the approaching monsoon. Since the feast is celebrated at a time not very far from monsoon, the feast is locally more popular as ‘Purumentachem Fest’ or ‘Festa das provisões’ (meaning festival of provisions) then the Feast of the Pentecost.
Until 1970s, a chant in Latin, called ‘Veni Creator Spiritus’ would resonate amidst the church walls during the novenas and feast of the Holy Spirit. The sad reality is that, of late this Latin chanting has been discouraged at the church in Margão, substituting it with a Konkani version of the same, sung in a tune very different from the traditional Gregorian tune used in the Latin chant.
The feast fair would traditionally comprise of vendors coming with goods required for provisions needed to last for the monsoons in Goa, since markets were not functional during that season. Agnelo Andrade
from Ambajim mentions, “As a child I recall cattle being sold at the fair in addition to agricultural implements.” Further, he states that the fair comprised of vendors selling roasted gram, furniture, copper ware, earthen ware, dried fish, sweets, seeds, turmeric, dried mango and kokum etc. Every thing was local and sold by locals in a sustainable manner. In today’s times, however, the fair comprises of stalls selling clothes and other commodities with hardly any vendors selling monsoon provisions. In addition, most of the vendors are from outside the state and pay almost no attention to sustainability, thus resulting in a lot of garbage after the fair is gone.
Traditionally, the feast fair was concentrated around the church itself: spice vendors (Temprekar) sold spices infront of the tinto, vegetable seeds and pork sausages were sold on the culvert opposite the Souza bakery, dried salted mango, fish /kokum and fruits like jackfruits and ripe mangoes were sold on the bund behind the tinto, cattle were sold by cattle rearers (Gorvamkars) on the bund belonging to the Barreto family of Margão, near the road leading to RMS Higher Secondary School, coppersmiths (Cançar) sold copperware near the Banyan tree situated next to the Margão circle, furniture was sold by local carpenters (Tevoi/Mest) at a place where today stands the SGPDA market, Potters (Kumbar) sold earthenware at the spot where currently stands the Sulabh toilet near the tinto, blacksmiths (Camar) put up a stall around the same location as that of the copper smiths near the Banyan tree close to the Margão circle, agricultural implements were made and sold at the site where today stands Hotel Kamat Mayur. The same location also had basket weavers (Mhaars) and carpenters that sold wooden measures. Sweet stalls (Khajekar) were scattered in various locations but were mainly seen along the Colva road and opposite the new district court in Margão while gram sellers (Chonnekar) were scattered in different regions dotting the area.
“Currently, most of the existing traditional fair vendors have been displaced from their traditional locations from around the church to locations distanced from the church due to various reasons like traffic management. “Some vendors like makers of agricultural implements and cattle herders have turned into memories,” says Joyce Aguiar from Colva, who has fond memories of coming especially to the fair of the Feast of Deus Espirito Santo, to purchase agricultural implements to be used in her field and wooden measures for paddy.Espertina Fernandes, a resident of Davorlim recalls with a smile, “As a little young girl, I went to the fair when it rained heavily thus bringing down the cost of ‘solle’ (dried salted fish). Not wasting any time I took advantage of this situation and purchased a huge quantity of ‘solle’, for which I received a lot of scolding from my dad.”
