Christmas in Goa may not have all the bells
(quite literally) and whistles of its western counterparts. Perhaps we won’t
have snow, candy canes or chestnuts roasting on an open fire. However, we do
have traditions of our own, unique to our culture. One standout attraction
across the state at this time of year is the showcasing of the cribs that
represent a given village, or a group within the village. As years pass by,
time constraints may have tightened the schedule of crib enthusiasts. No longer
are they in a position to make a crib a fortnight-three weeks in advance. In
fact, 2013 has seen many crib makers work through the night of December 23,
purely to ensure that their cribs are up in time for Christmas.
“Cribs are a huge draw for people as they
come but once a year. In earlier times, we would have them up and running right
from December 10. In modern times, we don’t see this practice anymore due to
people’s hectic routines. But I believe, with its combination of a wooden
structure depicting lavish surroundings as well as a clay structure surrounding
it, that the crib being put up by Friends Circle in Benaulim will be
outstanding,” says Mario Braganza, a village elder from around the Landis
Khuris as he observes the work being put in by the group.
In similar vein, Chadwaddo in Varca finds
itself struggling to put together its crib in time, yet a village elder from
this area, Joana Almeida, believes that the end result will be worth the wait.
As she mills about the village, she finds that the group representing Our Lady
of Piety in Varca is working itself to the bone to get the crib up and running
in time. “The highlight, I find, is the gigantic manger that the group has put
together. Many cribs focus on building an ornate surrounding and landscape, but
this group has chosen to depict the manger in greater detail and I think that
it is beautiful.”
North Goa in recent years has become famous
for a floating crib in between Siridao and Goa Velha. The crib shot to
popularity in 2013, when a tourist mistook it for a church, before taking to
social media to proclaim that it had found a floating church in Goa, much to
the amusement of the internet’s ‘trollers’. Another locale that is popular for
such a floating crib is Devott in Loutolim. Residents of the area have had
everything from a star suspended over the lake to Santa Claus in an air plane
accompany their crib. The crib at the Church of Our Lady of Immaculate
Conception, Panjim is drawing attention as it is a life-size crib.
Driving once more through the winding
in-roads of Benaulim, one may also stumble across the crib by the group that is
known as Touch Too Far. This particular group has chosen to focus of the
pyramids that are representative to the landscape, much to the fascination of
the milling about Cajetan Fernandes, a veteran crib maker himself. “We worked
with the tools that we had, namely our imagination. The internet has made
landscapes and pictures more accessible. But the job done by the group is
brilliant. We would not have thought of this in my time,” he says.
While every village is likely to have a
crib of its own, the above stand out for their own impressive reasons, and
certainly deserve a visit as part of anyone’s to-do list this festive season.
