"Immaculate Conception Feast at Panjim on 8/12/2001"

EXCLUSIVE for Goa-World.net
Pics by Menino Menezes
Compiled and forwarded by Cecil Pinto

Panaji church feast on Dec 8

PANAJI, Dec 6: The Immaculate Conception Church will celebrate its feast on December 8. The feast-day masses will be celebrated in Konkanni, at 5.30 a.m, 6.30 a.m, 7.30 a.m, 12.30 p.m and 5.30 p.m. There will be one mass each, in English and Portuguese at 8.30 a.m. and 9.30 a.m. respectively.

The feast mass will be celebrated at 10.30 a.m. and will be followed by the procession, says a press note issued by Fr Santana Carvalho.

The Parish Day celebration will wind up with an evening of entertainment, commencing at 7 p.m. The programme will consist of a cultural presentation and various games to facilitate interaction and fellowship amongst parishioners.

(Navhind Times)
 

Festival fever swamps Panaji
SANJAY BANERJEE/TIMES NEWS NETWORK
 
PANAJI: Dolma and her daughter Shireen from Nepal share a place on the roadside with their stall, jostling with Divadkar's from Divar Island across the Mandovi river.

Bablu from Uttar Pradesh carts his homemade kulfi while Umesh from Karnataka flutes his way for the feast of Our Lady of Immaculate Conception of the over 400-year-old towering Panaji church on Saturday.

A festive atmosphere grips the coastal state this week, beginning with a public holiday on Monday marking the feast of St Francis Xavier in Old Goa where his relics are showcased in a silver casket at the historic Basilica of Bom Jesus.

The celebrations shifted to Panaji towards the weekend for the Panaji Church celebrations which last till Sunday. Tourists get a glimpse of the way of life here with High Mass held on Saturday morning followed by a procession of devotees, some turned out in suits and ties, on the road in front of the church square.

The festivities culminate with the bursting of firecrackers.

Roadside bars where music is played and contests spur participation kindles the spirit of festivities.

For those setting up stalls, the festival does not end here, for they journey to different townships as will Dolma to Ponda, to sell her woollies and jackets. For the mother and daughter, speaking English comes naturally, hail as they do from another international tourist hotspot.

But the lack of English does not deter traders from the Hindi heartland and down south either, for they share a common bond. ``We love Goa and are repeating our visits,'' they accede to the painstaking journey from their village homes.

Ram Bilas Yadav from Uttar Pradesh, who came here seven years ago, has settled down. ``Since then I have always been putting up shop at this festival,'' says Yadav.

The sense of bonhomie and camaraderie travels back to bomb-weary Israel. For Rachel and Leo, the atmosphere is ``very colourful''. A bite at the red khajja, a locally made sweetmeat, is a thrilling experience. ``Very different,'' she says as the Gaonkar (a title) manning the stall, speaks good English to get some business.

The 18th June Road, named after the famous socialist leader Ram Manohar Lohia who on this day in 1946 gave the clarion call for Goa's freedom struggle, is choc-a-bloc with roadside vendors, camouflaging the mainline shops which are usually thronged by tourists.

The local shoeshine boy has taken the backstage with Saddam Hussain from Tamil Nadu spreading out his variety caps on the pavement for a population and tourists who top their heads in the hot sun and also get snapped.

For the next few days, the attention shifts from branded garments and cashewnuts to basics of housekeeping. For many newly-weds, the annual baazar is a virtual lesson in kitchen ware. With an ambience of a village bazaar, the capital town relives the era
of olden days even as family-owned tailor's shops co-exist with glitzy garment showrooms.

For a state with the highest per capita income and where foreign tourists laze around, the fest (as festivals are pronounced by Goans) __ provides a vignette of the earthen revolution to plastic invasion.

``Goa being a small place, the festivals provide a relief to daily chores while invigorating a way of life that has carried on for centuries,'' say oldtimers who tenaciously cling on to their town and village way of life.
(TOINS)