In Goas villages, Holi sees rice cooked on heads, men dancing to evoke spirits
Times of India | 2 months ago
Times of India
2 months ago
Keri: In Goa’s urban areas, Holi has translated into crowds drenched in colour dancing to Bollywood and techno music. But in the villages, Holi is a ritual. The three temples of Shree Mallikarjun deity in Ave, Shristhal and Gaodongari in Canacona celebrate the Veeramel and Shisharanni during Holi, alternating between the two each year. It is the Shisharanni ritual that attracts a big crowd. The excitement for the devotees lies in watching the ritualistic rice being cooked in an earthen pot that rests on the heads of three devotees. A fire is lit with the heads acting as the chullah as the rice simmers, with the participating men coming out unscathed each time. In Veeramel, the dancing devotees dressed in traditional attire and holding swords go house to house in a procession. Among agriculture dominated tribal regions, Holi is celebrated as Shigmo, whereas among the forest dwelling tribes the same festival is known as Shikmo — both being derived from the Sanskrit word Sugimha, meaning a pleasant summer. In Canacona’s tribal settlements, villagers disappear into the forested hills, deserting their homes at the foothills. Here, in a shelter in the forested hilltops, tribal Velip men perform folk dances and eat frugal vegetarian meals in a retracing of practices observed by their ancestors. The forest dwelling Velips communities see the ‘Mand’ — a common area reserved for performing religious traditions — come alive with menfolk dancing to folk music and folk songs reflecting the socio-ecological knowledge of the area. In the village of Nunde, situated inside the Netravali Wildlife Sanctuary of Sanguem, five days before Holi, a ritualistic dance is performed that largely involves wielding an age-old sword in the right hand. To the beats of percussion instruments and cymbals, five devotees dance the night away as villagers throng to watch the annual ritual. “Nunde is the only village in Goa, where the Hanpet dance is performed. In the past, folk dancers inflicted injuries on themselves with the sword to symbolically offer blood to Mother Earth. This dance is performed by the devotees under a trance. After the Hanpet dance, tribals irrespective of their age, perform the folk dances of Tonyamel and Taalgadi jubilantly,” said a local, Arjun Gaonkar, 80. In the Taalgadi, male folk dancers perform to the beats of drums and folk songs. However, nowadays, harmonium, tabla and cymbals are also used. Tonyamel sees the men dance with a pair of colourful wooden sticks, akin to the dandiya. “Holi provides a forum to these villagers to showcase their folk dances, songs and music performed spontaneously. Amidst the fun and frolic, is the performance of rituals and traditions cherished since the hoary past by the communities,” said Shubhada Chari, a folk researcher from Sal, Bicholim. Throughout Goa, in designated community areas, usually in front of the temple of the village deity, a trunk extracted from the nearby forest is erected and dressed meticulously with mango leaves. The trunk itself is known as ‘Holi’ and rituals are usually performed around this, mostly in the dead of the night. It is also seen as evoking or thanking the holy spirit. “Among the Goan Hindus, the ritualistic traditions observed during the Holi express the utmost gratitude to Mother Earth for providing food and many unseen holy spirits for blessings of prosperity,” said Chari. In villages of Sattari, Bicholim, Pernem and Dharbandora, Ghodemodni is performed by artists which recalls the warfare of the Marathas who made the ultimate sacrifice to protect the honour and dignity of the land. The passion of the Goan communities for Holi festivities was so deep that even after religious conversion the local Catholics and Muslims have kept their association with the folk traditions alive through their participation in Holi related processions like the Intruz and the Tabut.
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