SPREADING CHRISTMAS CHEER

Christmas in Goa isn’t the same as in the past with a combination of lack of time and migration changing the face of celebrations ...Until a few years ago, the joy of Christmas would start glowing more than a month before the festival. With everybody getting deeply involved in preparations, the balmy feeling of happiness and expectation kept encompassing them, as the festive season drew near.Preparations for Christ’s Nativity – an occasion highly treasured among festive occasions by the Catholic community – would start early. Spontaneity was a key element as they immersed themselves in frenetic activity for a few weeks of making a traditional bamboo star, a crib in front of their house, other decorative elements, and a wide array of sweets, dishes and goodies.A few other practices would act as harbingers of the much-loved festival.“We would feel the joy at the sense of Christ’s coming after Advent began in late November,” said Jose Carmino Joao, a senior villager from Merces. “An additional candle – four candles in all -- would be lit in church at Mass for four Sundays. At home, our parents would soak, wash and put to dry rice and wheat, and do other things to make Christmas sweets.”The burst of activity to make the star and the crib bit by bit would commence at every village ward.“In our ward, the chapel would be the scene of activity. We would make a life-size star, candle and a crib,” said Thomas Antonio da Costa, a museum owner from Varca.The work often involved raiding forest areas for bamboos and spending hours, cutting, slicing and shaving them into sticks of right dimensions. After tying the ends, the coloured paper and decorations would wrap the frame into an eye-catching work of art. “Getting the stars and crib ready had its own joys. In our village, the boys would sit under the mango tree to make stars and help those who were uninitiated into making theirs too,” said an elderly villager from Salcete.For everyone, the happiness of seeing the star hanging in the sky was unmatchable.The preparation of a wide array of sweets like nevreo, vodde, bolinhas, batk, dodol, bebinca, filoz, polle, manddare and others required lot of time and massive labour. “We would help our neighbours and they would reciprocate in preparing sweets. Our Hindu neighbours would also help and we would distribute kunsvar (Christmas hamper) to other communities. This helped build good relationships with others,” Joao said.At the local level, it helped spread good cheer and camaraderie among neighbours. “The preparations and involvement strengthened bonds between neighbours, wiping out differences and ill feelings,” da Costa said.The families mourning their dead usually abstain from making any sweets or other preparations at Christmas. “But all neighbours would, and still do, lovingly prepare and present them kunsvar, adding a nice humane touch to the celebrations,” da Costa said.On a bigger scale at parish level, youth would unite in making a large crib and get involved in serenades, moving door to door, singing carols and spreading good cheer around. Singing, star-making and crib competitions galore would add more energy and flavour to the celebrations.Those heady days of celebrating Christmas on a grand scale appear to have been impacted by several factors. In a highly stressed society, the scale of activity and participation has come down. A few sweets from the Christmas treasury appear to be on the verge of extinction.“This is due to requirement of more hands and some skill to do the work,” said Anthony Miranda, a Cortalim-based writer. “Popular sweets like pinagr and manddare are disappearing. Only those things which can be done in a jiffy, and sweets which can be easily prepared, are preferred. The youth hardly put in the efforts.”Changes in lifestyles and people’s involvement in social life has also diluted the spontaneity in Christmas and other celebrations.“Nowadays, there is so much happening around us; music shows, exhibitions and other social events that we have to rely on outside help and factory-made things,” Maria Lourdes Bravo da Costa, former assistant state librarian and researcher said. “Every young member and elders would be involved in the preparations. Now our families returning home want relaxation. A combination of lack of time and migration of the Catholic community has affected traditions.”The intercommunity bonds continue, as Hindus help in making nevreo and a few other items.Youth do to put in the hard work and make attractive cribs that are becoming popular in some villages, drawing huge crowds, but some said the youth generally shy away from engaging in the preparations.For some like da Costa, all the shimmering and dazzling lights, expensive clothes and sparkling decorations mean little. “At Christmas, we have to extend our hand to the poor and help them. Imbibing these humane qualities is important than grand celebrations,” he said... “Nowadays, there is so much happening around us; music shows, exhibitions and other social events that we have to rely on outside help and factory-made things”-- Maria Lourdes Bravo da Costa, researcher==‘Don’t stress, focus on one thing at a time’Festivals are an enjoyable period, but also a time when people are intensively engaged in preparations which can take a toll on your mental health.During festivals, there’s cleaning and decoration of homes, making sweets, purchase of gifts and religious ceremonies, all of which may not be to everyone’s liking, according to Dr Peter Castelino, a Mapusa-based psychiatrist.“It’s a time when families and the community get together,” said Dr Castelino. “This can be a challenge for everyone more so when one is already going through mental health problems. The stress of preparations and social anxiety can be overwhelming which actually makes them prefer staying away from social obligations.”The prudent strategy, according to Dr Castelino, is to do only as much as one can. “Focus on one thing at a time. Be mindful of one’s limitations and working within these should be the aim,” he said.====The laborious art of making manddareManddare or lightly coloured sweetish fritters is becoming increasingly rare on sweet platters in the state, thanks largely to the scale of energy, time and effort required to prepare the sweet.“The rice has to be soaked overnight and laboriously ground into a fine paste. Then a blob of it with due additions of colour and other things has to be placed on a vatti (a metal plate) and the utensil has to be shaken with some skill to spread the thick paste into a papad-like shape,” said a housewife from Salcete.The plates are then deposited into a kopro (a copper vessel) over a fireplace for steaming the manddare. After a while, the plates are removed and the soft manddare are removed delicately to be carried to a bamboo mat or some other cover for drying.“All this needs time, effort, space and manpower to do,” the housewife said.