Music, song and dance filled with creativity and tradition
kicked off the Carnival
festivities in Panjim on Saturday.
Carnival 2018 was ushered in by the beautiful float parade along
the new route – Miramar road as King Momo Bruno Azaredo, surrounded by a bevy
of women, declared the four-day Carnival festivities open with “Viva Carnaval”
cry which was echoed by the huge gathering of people.
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With the Mandovi promenade and the city roads that usually host
the parade, adorned with colourful buntings, banners, masks and themed décor,
much of the anticipation and excitement at this year’s carnival shifted to the
new route.
The energy among those gathered around Science Centre was high
as many of them dressed in a colourful attire as some had their face masks and
hairdos and a majority of them had their cameras on to capture the moment. The
pulsating music blasting from the speakers set the mood right.
The parade, the dances and the Goan traditional music enthralled
the gathering including a large number of tourists.
The traditional floats portrayed Goan culture with some
interesting themes such as the traditional attire, old professions and the
cooking methods among others.
The floats highlighted the current issues on protecting Goa,
while some depicted FC Goa Gaurs, fish and birds. There were even some that
depicted ‘Dhirio’s. Some even had global themes such as the Statue of Liberty
while some participants portrayed themselves as political leaders such as
Donald Trump, Barack Obama and Kim Jong Un.
Some of these had some eyecatching scenes such as a mermaid,
King Kong to name a few. Most floats had large number of dancers dancing to the
various tunes besides many participated in the family fun junk, clown joker and
other categories. Children in their fancy dress costumes also stole the show.
A special Goan Carnival 2018 theme song entitled “Goencho
Carnaval’ that was played during the parade, the music for which was arranged
by Shine On Duo.
As
much as the crowd interaction was a winner, one complaint was about the failure
of the authorities to barricade the sidewalks as people got in the way of the
float parade several times.
