Go Goa VIII: Shigmo – a little known cultural extravaganza

Shigmo is the Goan version of Holi, a springtime festival that is a farewell to winters that in Goa’s case is also the tourist’s time and get indoors for upcoming summers and monsoons.  Now what makes it special is that it is celebrated on the streets of various villages for good 14 days. Each day a few villages celebrate and the villagers dressed in all their finery come out, play loud music and dance. This year I got to see Shigmo up, close and personal as it happened two streets away from my home in Goa.

I reached the venue on time, which means I was actually before time and I saw the floats still being prepared by the group of young boys, dancers were getting into their colorful dressed, orange phetas were being bound around the head in a long queue and the accessories waited by the side of the road. This gave me an opportunity to talk to the participants who were all smiles and enthusiasm. Each float was by a local mandal that had a name and they said they have been doing this for many years. Every year they build a new float, they hire a tempo along with a long platform that it draws and then along with an electrician they design the float. Themes are mythology – primarily scenes from Ramayana & Mahabharata – some of them still but most of them animated. It is when you talk to these young men who design these floats all by themselves without any guidance that you appreciate the inherent creativity nurturing built-in in our cultural systems. These youngsters grow up watching these floats and they start creating them soon enough.

There were groups of men and women dancers. Women groups were in their traditional green Saris with an orange pheta on their heads. Male groups had 4-5 different variants. There were dance groups who perform with horse like props – a typical warrior dance with swords in their hands as if enacting the scenes of the war for their simple villagers. Then there were colorful dancers in stilts who obviously stood tall over the rest of the people and when they danced it was some color on the street. I found the Goff dance most interesting where women danced with long cloths tied on top of a horizontal bar and as they performed fast dance their clothes braided neatly into a rope like formation and after this they untied it in pretty much the same fashion. It was fascinating to watch them braid and unbraid effortlessly.

There were participants in various costumes like a fancy dress competition and it was a delight to see small kids dressed as Shivaji Maharaj and Hanuman. Bhishma with his bed of arrows drew the maximum attention and the artist obliged the cameras by lying down on this bed every now and then. Shirdi Sai Baba moving in a sitting pose was another creativity on display as was the Durga with her multiple arms on a lion and dragging the mahishasur with her weapon.  There was an innocent young girl carrying the teakettle and glasses and wearing a cap that said – Stop child Labor. There were men dressed as women, there were farmers, villagers and there were politicians in these costumes.

Festival began with Aarti that they call Naman, followed by a drummer’s performance that gave the energy base to the rest of the parade behind them. They were so high energy that you feel you are floating on the road. There was a bit of acrobatics that boys performed with huge cymbals. Drummers and live singers performed with each dance group and the energy with which they sang had to be felt. They did use the loudspeakers but I think even without that they would have packed enough punch.

People of Goa lined up on both sides of the road as the dancers and float passed by. A few photographers like me jumped around to click pictures. There was police but in a very unobtrusive way – there were no security checks, there were simple barricades to let the performers have space but there was no restriction on mingling with the performers or shaking a leg with them. There were no food stalls anywhere that kept the place clean and the road was made pedestrian and without traffic the roads look so much wider. All the performers were simply lovable for their craft and for their simplicity. The city streets and traffic islands are decorated with colorful flags and displays showcasing the festivity of the times. I almost felt it is the final dance before city goes indoors for next 6 months.

I personally liked Shigmostava much better than the well promoted Goa Carnival, which was also good, but this was much richer, more authentic and far more colorful and energy filled. Only thing I am yet to figure out is the origin of the name Shigmo.

Festival is on till 30^th Mar this year so you still have time to catch up with it.