Christmas celebrations in Goa: Cuddled in sweet memories

‘Christmas time, mistletoe and wine…’ goes one of the popular Christmas carols. Here in Goa, too, Christmas is best associated with traditions involving food, be it the scrumptious lunch or the platter of assorted sweets. Natalancho kunsvar as the latter is popularly known, is unarguably a much looked forward to part of the festivities. Beautifully decorated platters filled with an array of colourful and lip-smacking sweet treats are served to guests on Christmas day and right through the festive week. These sweets also form a part of the tray of sweets that is exchanged between neighbours and friends. The best part of the platter is that it follows the simple diktat, ‘more the merrier’.

While the components of the platter vary from home to home, there are some staples. These include the rich and indulgent fruit cake, neureo and kormols (also known as kul kuls). Then there are the traditional goodies such as dodol, bebinca, bhatika, doce, pinagr, bolhinas, nankhatai cookies, marzipan, milk cream, rose cookies, Teias de Aranhas (ghons), perad and jujubes (jelly sweet) that also find pride of place on it.

While earlier entire families would get together and prepare the goodies, these days, lack of time due to professional commitments and the easy availability of ready prepared items means that most of these are either ordered or purchased from stores.

Margao restaurateur and author of famed cookbook, A Day in a

Goan Kitchen

,

Ivo Almeida Coutinho

says he always has a busy run-up to Christmas making the items that are included in the platter. “From dodol, to bebinca, two varieties of neureo – one with coconut and sesame filling and one with coconut and jaggery filling, kul kuls and rose cookies, I make them all at home. I also make a guava cheese, which is a much softer version of the easily available perad,” he says. Talking about the platter and the term kunsvar, he says that the sentiment behind it is the spirit of sharing happiness, “which is what Christmas is all about”.

Homemaker Myrtle Sequeira fondly remembers the sweet making marathons of her childhood. “While the elders did the important tasks, the enjoyable parts such as shaping the kormols or decorating the edges of the neureo, or licking clean the pots in which goodies such as dodol or doce were prepared were the exclusive privilege of the kids,” she says.

Keeping with modern day trends, these days, western influenced goodies such as cookies, chocolate fudge, Yule logs, marshmallows, mince pies and assorted handmade chocolates are also gaining popularity.

Shweta Vaz caters Christmas hamper orders from home and makes an array of sweets that are not so traditional to Goa. These include mince pies and German stollen. “Some order them for the novelty, but most who order are those who have tasted these sweets elsewhere and wish to relive the taste,” she says.

Nishant Desai, too, has fond memories of

Christmas sweets

. Residing in a building with quite a number of Catholic families as neighbours meant numerous sweet platters. “We would eagerly await midmorning as we knew the Catholic neighbours would start distributing the sweet platters. ” he says.