Exploring Sao Joao Festival

Описание: We visited the Sao Joao festival in Siolim, North Goa on 24th June.

San Janv or São João is the feast of St John the Baptist celebrated on June 24th in Goa wherein young Goan Catholic men leap into and swim in local wells, streams and ponds.

The festivities also include revellers wearing the Kopel, the crown of fruits, flowers and leaves, parading in villages and often well hopping from one place to another as they chant, “Sao Joao! Viva Sao Joao”.

The celebrations includes playing the traditional gumott (percussion instrument), a boat festival, servings of feni and fruits. Sao Joao is an occasion for the family and the villagers to get to know their newly wed daughters’ husbands a little better.

In the village of Siolim, in Bardez taluka, North Goa, the celebration features colourful floats on boats. A stage is erected and participants show up in vibrant costumes and prizes are awarded by the best decorated boat, dress and kopel (crown).

These festivities date back 175 years, when San Joao revellers from Chapora and Zhor villages of Anjuna, Badem in Assagao and Siolim would come in boats to the chapel of San Joao in Pereira Vaddo, Siolim, every year, to pay homage to the saint.

Viva re Viva .. Viva San Joao