The feast of St. Francis Xavier, celebrated on 3 December brings great joy to people all over the world. This feast is not limited to any religion but is based on a belief – a belief and worship carried out towards the saint by many people.
Among the huge number of domestic tourists and foreigners witnessing this day minutely, there are people that travel from distant places just to attend this feast and pay their respects to the miraculous body of St. Francis Xavier whereas other pilgrims seek refuge in the church premises from day one of the novenas till the feast day; many of these pilgrims are Goans themselves.
It is the belief that matters and is something which cannot be shaken by the number of people staying in the premises.
Maria Esperance Da Costa, a pilgrim from Benaulim said, “I have come here since my childhood and this is the tenth consecutive year. Nobody forces us to come, it is one’s belief. We come here to pray to our patron for inner healing and peace. I come here with thirteen more people from my village.”
This belief also acts as a support system to these pilgrims during their stay as they face a lot of problems at the premises. Firstly, they are not provided with any fans as the church is a part of Goan heritage and therefore it is prohibited. Apart from the mosquitoes, they have to also encounter a lack of area to settle down, since there are a lot of people staying there. The pilgrims are seen with their mattresses and a few bags containing clothes and food.
Cosme Fernandes, another pilgrim said, “ Although I have settled in London, I make it a point to attend this feast. However, I have stopped staying at the premises because you cannot just go and settle down with all your baggage. There are a lot of people staying already as they settle there from the first day itself. My relatives still go to stay at the premises. No one ever complains about anything as they take it as a part of their sacrifice to St. Francis Xavier.”
Catarine Almeida, a pilgrim from Margao said, “We do not come here every consecutive year, but we try our best to sacrifice everything for this feast. We are a bunch of 6 people staying for the past two days, but we have so many other people now. We all pray together and also share our food with each other.”
As many of the families plan this pilgrimage, this religious journey turns into a family bonding program as families plan and spend all their time together. As the old members of the family spend their time praying, the other younger members seem to have a joyful picnic in the premises of the church as they spend their free time wandering around in the churches and the fair outside the church premises.
The young pilgrims stated that the pilgrimage is a new experience for them, which is far beyond religion. Meeting new people and spending time in religious places like Old Goa just makes a person feel overwhelmed and brings out his or her inner peace.
The culture of these pilgrims staying at the church for the feast of St. Francis Xavier has been going on for a very long time and seems like it will go on for much, much longer.
