PANJIM: The villagers of Dongrim kick-started the traditional Intruz festival on Tuesday with great pomp and enthusiasm. The five-day Intruz festival begins in the Magh, the eleventh month of the Hindu calendar, and entails a series of processions, dances and music predominantly using the ghumot.
The celebrations will go on till Saturday. This festival is held on the fourth Tuesday of the Hindu month of Maagh.
Three days prior to the celebration, the village of Dongri is full of festivities and about five singing and dancing troupes, called Mell converge from different corners and march in a procession towards the temple of the village deity, Sati Shantadurga. The special feature of this procession is Sunvari, a folk musical form which uses ghumots, shamels and kansalem along with a huge drum called dome. All these musical instruments form the ensemble of the Sunvari.
The crescendo of the music reaches a fever pitch when all the troupes reach the temple, situated on a hillock. There is a special pavilion meant for this celebration known as Intruz Matow, (pavilion) where all the Sunvari of the village come together. Here people throw gulal (vermillion powder) on each other. The celebration concluded after a common prayer on behalf of the entire village is offered to the deity.
The highlight of the festival is the music, which is locally known as Suvari vadan, with musical performances on traditional instruments such as dhol, taaso, ghumot, etc. Absorbing plays were performed by the locals on the occasion.
