Added: 12/21/2005 |
Goa carnival festivals -extravagant funOne of the most popular festivals in India, the Goa carnival, a three-day fest, had its birth in Goa during the era of King Momo. He ushered in the Goa carnival just before the Lent season. Goa carnival festivals usually start on Sabado Gordo (Fat Saturday) and concludes on Shrove Tuesday (Fat Tuesday)-the eve of Ash Wednesday, which is the first day of the season of Lent.
Carnival is a time for fun and frolic. Colourful processions and lavish floats parade the streets. Singing, dancing and masked people mark the uproarious and flamboyant Goan celebration. Most of the countries have carnivals that differ from one another but the unique thing about Goa carnival is that the people of Goa have inculcated different items in the carnival that makes you feel the different shades of Goa.
The streets are crowded for three days during the Goa carnival festivals. The Goa carnival is nothing but a carnival of colours, a carnival of fun and a carnival of joy for the people of Goa as well as the tourists who make it a point to plan their Goa visit during that time.
Goa carnival festivals are much tamer when compared to the carnivals in the other countries, but a madness of sorts nevertheless. Until a few years ago it was promoted by the state authorities as a Christian festival and large and small manufacturing and trading corporations, ever eager to use any means to sell their products literally took over the processions of Carnival floats, balls and street dances. In fact, for those four nights and three days they ruled over Goa. Manufacturers of beer, liquor, cigarette, and other consumer products used and abused the Goan Carnival to sell their wares. The church and social activists then suddenly took energetic initiative to put an end to the reckless exploitation of Carnival and adolescent boys and girls. As a result, carnival in Goa is now what it was meant to be: a people feast. And no more a spectacle to lure tourists and consumers.
During the Goa carnival festivals, expect the air in Goa to be filled with perfume of happiness, the roads to be jam-packed with fun and the hearts of the people in Goa to be filled with nothing but enjoyment and enjoyment and enjoyment. Three days of continuous music, dance and fun. Goa is just the place to be during the February carnival.
Goans begin preparations for this grand carnival from somewhere, say late December or early January. People in Goa rehearse for the plays to be enacted during the Goa carnival. These short plays are composed by the Goans themselves and consist of music, songs and dance. The plays usually have a touch of history to it. The cast consisting of men only, perform the roles of women too. Dressed in the most colourful costumes, their headgear surpasses those worn by any primitive tribe in Asia or Africa.
On the first day, the streets of Goa are filled with colorful processions and lavish floats and this continues for three days and four nights. The tourists and Goans throng the streets either to watch the procession or to take part in it. Music rents the air and you cannot help but join the dance. It doesn't matter who you are or what you do, the Goa carnival brings everyone closer and it is simply fun all around.
You will find people dressed in combat uniform waging an artificial war with potatoes or colour powders. Huge trucks filled with young people staging various tableaus or equipped with buckets of colored water throwing them at the spectators.
A person dresses up as King Momo and he presides over the carnival in Goa for three days. It is King Momo who distributes prizes to various contestants for putting in excellent performance during the carnival in Goa.
The Goa carnival India is held for three days - three days of dancing, three days of boundless music, three days of extravagant fun but the memories that you gather from the carnival of Goa is going to last a life time. The carnival in Goa is one place to be if you want to forget all the cares in the world and simply flow along in a river of happiness and fun.
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