Goa’s Sao Joao festival

Goa’s Sao Joao festival

Subject :History

Section :Art and Culture

Context:

• As in every monsoon, Catholics in Goa will celebrate Sao Joao, the feast of St John the Baptist, on Friday.

What is Sao Joao and where is it celebrated in Goa?

• In Goa, Catholics celebrate all the feasts of the Roman Catholic Church, which include the feast of St John the Baptist on June 24 (John the Baptist because he had baptised Jesus Christ on the river Jordan).
• Traditionally, there are spirited Sao Joao festivities in the villages of Cortalim in South Goa and Harmal, Baga, Siolim and Terekhol in North Goa.
• However, over the years, pool parties and private Sao Joao parties in Goa have been a “complete package of merriment and joy” for tourists.

What does jumping into water bodies symbolise?

• In the 2004 edition of her book Feasts, Festivals and Observances of Goa, author and historian Maria de Lourdes Bravo da Costa Rodrigues wrote: “The youngsters in Goa celebrate this occasion with revelry and perform daredevil feats, by jumping into over flowing wells or rivulets…
• The boys are found merrily jumping into the water to commemorate the leap of joy, which St John is said to have taken in the womb of his mother St Elizabeth when virgin Mary visited her.”
• The festivities also include revellers wearing the Kopel, the crown of fruits, flowers and leaves, parading in villages and often well hopping from one place to another as they chant, “Sao Joao! Viva Sao Joao”.
• Villagers gather near the well and cheer for those throwing and dunking themselves into the water.
• Full-throated renditions of Konkani songs written for the occasion are accompanied by traditional musical instruments like the gumott and cansaim (cymbal).

Other events part of Sao Joao festivities

• Among the prominent festivities includes the Sao Joao boat parade in Siolim that usually sees visitors running into thousands.

What is the importance assigned to new sons-in-law?

• In Goa, Sao Joao is an occasion for the family and the villagers to get to know their newly wed daughters’ husbands a little better.
• Traditionally, the new son-in-law would be crowned with festive headgear of fruits and leaves, taken around the village and would then jump into the well with other revelers.