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The Carnival
 The word Carnival comes from the Latin
'Carnem levare' which literally means
putting away the flesh. History traces back the carnival celebrations to the
Saturnalia festival of the Romans. The most colourful and unforgettable festival
of Goa is the Carnival celebrated by
the Catholics with gay abandon once a year for three days preceding Lent- from
Sunday to Tuesday. During these three days, Goa is gripped by the pulsating
rhythm of guitars and the lilt of folk songs. The revelers in their colourful
improvised fancy dresses, dance and sing in the streets, with King Momos, Lord
of the Carnival, presiding over the scene.
Preparations for the Carnival starts in December and January. The festival
comes around February/March. Boys and girls plan and design their fancy costumes
for the occasion. They prepare packets and cartridges made of paper and stuffed
with bran, husk or sawdust or plain powder.
Even a week before the Carnival, a handful of boys and girls, arrayed in
masks and dominoes, would go round visiting their friends places and play at
banter and have lots of fun. These used to be known as assaltos. They were then
entertained with snacks and drinks in the form of a warming up for the exciting
event.
The main function of the Carnival on the first day, i.e. Fat Saturday
evening, starts with a mammoth procession of floats of a variegated pageant of
colour and gaiety, headed by King Momo. The actual dance and other celebrations
affect only a part of the population particularly the youth with some coloured
water being thrown mirthfully at friends with the help of a chiknolli. Cocotes
meaning stuffed cartridges, used to be thrown in a spirit of mirthful mock
battles by rival groups in the old days, which left the roads littered with
coloured powder. The young would provide themselves with card board shield to
defend themselves from the chaff filled bombs thrown by opposite groups.
Crackers exploded with gay abandon, with buntings and decorations galore, with
coloured streamers being flown everywhere. A local troubadour or a group
of masqueraders impersonate as hawkers, fortune tellers and women, children run
wild, banging on drums in the form of tins, while the elder ones move out in
funny costumes.
Those who did not dare to express their love for a girl of their choice or
one drawing their affectionate attention, plucked up courage to approach her in
this guise with the real self hidden behind a mask. If the girls of their
affection ran away from them, then they improvised as women and made another
attempt, with powder and scent till they giggled knowingly, as if
struggling to free themselves from them. The most important item of the Carnival
celebrations was the play-cum-dance-song of Mussoll.
The folk-plays or Khell or Fell are a special feature of the Carnival
celebrations in Chandor, where distinctive songs known as Intruzachim Geetam or
Fella-Gitam are sung by the walking-plays that go about the village, with
accompaniment of musical instruments, like an improvised operetta. The Fell goes
from village to village and creates great excitement during this period.
It helps to bring the villages together in a spirit of understanding and
amity. There is a lot of noise and music in the air, with violins, cymbals,
drums, ghumats, whistles contributing to the extravaganza. The Fells, whose
dramatic quality is not high, nevertheless acts as a necessary corrective to the
follies and foibles of various sections of the Goan society. It spares no one in its
biting criticism and caricature of prominent characters.
The dolkas is a sort of rustic drum which acts like the mainspring or
director of the play, whereas the whistle of the mestri (producer like) serves
as the curtain-puller to the play. The dialogue is attuned to the song,
sometimes very ordinary and banal verging on banter, but is uplifted by the
dances colouring it giving a lively lilt to the whole show. The Fell bristles
with satire and makes the people laugh which goes to entertain the audience. The
humour is spontaneous and rib-ticking. The dolkas sets the tone of the
folk-play, while the cymbals, clarinet and the trumpet are the basic musical
instruments to enliven it with the help of dialogue. The Fells are put up at
Easter and Christmas also.
Some clubs and hotels of the five-star variety hold dances during the
Carnival days beginning with Sabado Gordo in Goa where revelers appear in
gaudy costumes and masks and let their hair down in gay abandon, with booze and
carousing galore. There used to be in the old days, dances in the morning also
called Matinees Japonesas. A queen is elected for King Momo. Mimicry and
impersonations of local characters are enacted and it is all fun and frolic for
every one. Carnival festivities go on in full swing and continue late into the
night and morning of Wednesday, when the period of Lent, the spell of penance,
begins with Ash Wednesday.
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