A list of the names of the chief Festivals in Goa is given along side the month and the seasons:
January/February (Magh): “Mahashivratri”, “Ratha-Saptami”, “Maruti-Zatra” and “Mahalsa Jatra” or “Vijayarathotsav”
February/March (Phalgun): “Shigmotsav” or “Shigmo”, “Ghodemodni” is a part of Shigmo, “Rombat” takes place on the second and third day of Shigmo, “Drama Festivals” form an important part of Shigmo with most villages staging plays during the festival week, “Holi” is celebrated as “Gulal” or “Rangapanchami”, “Gade” and “Kalas Utsav”
March/April (Chaitra): “Ram Navami” and “Chaitra Purnima”.
April/May (Baisakh): This is homecoming season for Many Goans settled away from Goa. It is also the fruit season and Feni-making season. A distinctive Goan aperitif, Feni comes from cashew apples. In addition it is toddy-tapping season.
May/June (Jaith): “Mirg” is on 6th June. It is the start of the monsoon season. The Christian Mirg is one day earlier.
June/July (Asadh): Rainy season with no major festival.
July/August (Shravana): “Gokul Ashtami” or “Janamashtami”.
August/September (Bhadra-Pada): “Ganesh Chaturthi” and “Novidade”.
September/October (Ashwin): “Navaratri” or the ‘nine nights’ festival and the “Kirtan Mahotsasv”.
October/November (Kartika): “Deepawali”.
November/December (Aghrana): “Kejagiri Purnima”.
December/January (Paush): “Malni Purnima”, the “Zatra of Shri Shantadurga” and the “Datta Jayanti
Folklore:
Given the fact that folklore have religious origins, festivals and folklore in Goa are pretty rich, diverse and uniquely collaborated. Goan folktales, along with the proverbs, songs and dance-music, hold the key to the social history of pre-Portuguese Goa. The tradition of folklore everywhere across the globe is dependent on the oral tradition, and the one problem with the oral sources is its flexibility – which leads to various versions of the same tale. As a result of this tractability, it is almost impossible to detect the time of ancestry or of background. Only a thorough knowledge of language trends, which have taken place through the ages, and a sufficient grasp of the culture can give birth to employment and interpretation of folk evidence. Two illustrations of Goan folklore are given below:
The first instance is taken from a story titled The Girl in the Straw Hat. The story tells of a poor girl who is journeying from the house of her wealthy husband to that of her grandmother. On the way she is suddenly confronted by three water nymphs. These nymphs give her a grain of rice each. The first nymph instructs her to throw the grain of rice on her grandmother’s hut to turn it into a palace. The second nymph asks her to commit the grain into the grandmother’s room to obtain a room full of riches. The last nymph tells her to thrust it into the kitchen to have it filled with a host of servants. It is an extremely simple story; but it poignantly demonstrates the importance of a good harvest to young girls in Goa and illustrates to them that it is the only way to get a wealthy and prosperous home.
The second story is sketched by the Indian Jesuit Anthony D’Costa, which was based on a common practice. Jesuit Anthony D'Costa, in the Preface to his research publication on the Christianization of the Goa, narrates the tradition in which Portuguese soldiers filled wax dolls with wine and then chopped off their heads to drink the wine. The Goans, however, thought that it was human blood; thus leading to many natives embracing Christianity out of fear. The natives thought that if they did not convert their religion, the Portuguese would drink their blood similarly.
