Dear All, I'm dumbfounded by the reception to this article. I'd have thought that lots and lots of thoughtful people who are the members of this discussion group would be worried about the fact that a large section of our community who for ages have been oppressed are still feeling marginalized and oppressed but the conspiracy of silence that has greeted this very painful expression of dignified anger has met with stony silence.
Is it that everyone actually believes that the Gawdas deserve what they got; or is it that nobody wants to take on the might of the Church which is what Fr Conceicao D'Silva who is the mastermind of the financial cash cow - theCruz dos Milagres project in Old Goa; or Fr Luis Coutinho who is known to be close to the Varca strongman and otherwise who has his political antennae finely tuned? Either way I am not impressed with the callous behavior of our intelligentsia. Augusto On Sun, Aug 11, 2013 at 8:07 AM, augusto pinto <pinto...@gmail.com> wrote: > Book excerpt: > > Maan / Maand > > By Adv. John Fernandes > > Translated by Augusto Pinto > > > (Adv. Joao alias John Fernandes, Christian Gawda activist, has compiled > the folk songs of the Christian Gawdas in a book called ‘Goencho Mull > Avaz’ (JPL Prakashan, Quepem, 2013). This is published in Konkani in the > Devanagari script, although a Roman script edition is to be published soon. > > > The commentary accompanying the songs and the accounts of these Christian > Gawda folk practices is thought provoking. What follows is a translation > of the first chapter of Goencho Mull Avaz’ named ‘Maan / Maand’ a word > which has multiple meanings in Konkani. This chapter explains some of > those meanings and describes how it was wilfully suppressed by some priests > in the 1990s) > > > The Maan is a place sacred for all Goan Gawdas: Gawdas who belong to both > Christian as well as Hindu faiths. Other Goan communities also had similar > sacred places which they would pronounce Maand although most are now > extinct except insofar as village-shops are often still called Maand on > account of the fact that in the hoary past the Mand used to be the > meeting places where commerce also was conducted. > > > I will describe the practices of the Maan of the Christian Gawdas, most > particularly the Maan of the Ambaulim Gawdas. All the folk festivals and > celebrations of the Gawdas, be they the Gawda Dhalos, Intruz (Carnival), > Intrumezi (which in other villages is called Zagor) – are intimately > associated with the Maan. This is because most of the celebrations of the > Gawdas would take place on the Maan, and so all them would gather > together there. All the Gawda folk arts, folksongs and folk dances, the > various musical instruments, musical lore, all blossomed and found fruition > at and because of the Maan. > > > Around 1994, the Church, or at any rate some of its priests, began to > attack the Maan saying that it was the abode of the Devil (Devncharachi > Suvaat) and to have a celebration at the Maan amounted to worshiping a > blind God (Kudd’ddea Devachi Puja korop). The attack by the Church has > steadily resulted in the destruction of Maan, which is one of the most > vibrant institutions of the Gawdas, becoming extinct in many places. That > the destruction of the Ambaulim Maan began around 1994, and the ones > primarily responsible for this were Fr Conceicao D’Silva the then Vicar of > Ambelim Church and Fr Luis Coutinho then parish priest of Ambaulim Chuch > , is a fact that can hardly be disputed. > > > Both Fr Luis Coutinho in his sermons, and Fr Conceicao D’Silva , who would > be invited by Fr. Luis Coutinho to deliver the sermons during the > Novenas for the village feast, would attack and criticize the Maan in all > sorts of ways, as well as spread false propaganda regarding it. It appears > that the reason for appointing Fr Luis Coutinho to the Ambaulim parish > was to launch an offensive against the Maan and by so doing, to put an > end to this institution by metaphorically chopping off its neck (which in > Konkani also means‘Maan’) as quickly as possible. > > > But besides the Ambaulim Maan, a concerted effort was made in all the > areas of Quepem and Sanguem talukas to persuade the Christian Gawdas to > abandon the Maan. However the Maan of Assolda and Avedem survived the > attack from the priests. > > > The Church’s, or should we say its priests’ intention was to destroy the > culture of the Gawdas, and impose the official culture of the Church upon > the Gawdas . Today this is exactly what has happened in many places. At > the instigation of some priests, Crosses have been erected at the site of > the Maan; those were the very sites where once Gawda women, after reaping > their fields and storing the harvest in their homes, around the month of > October, would gather at the Maan to sing and dance Dhalo to give thanks > to Nature; now at those same spots Church prayers can be heard. Similarly > during the days of Intruz (Carnival) where the Gawda men would dance at > the Maan, there during those same days now, Church prayers can be heard. > > > “The Maan is the abode of the Devil’. So saying the priests laid siege on > those sites. Nowadays when at those same places Church prayers are heard, > are we perchance to understand that the Devils have gone away? > > > A second reason for the assaults on the Maan was that it was and is a > strong binding force of the community. By breaking the unity of the Gawdas, > the Church perhaps intended to impose its Raj upon them. > > > A third reason could be that the worship rituals practiced by the Gawdas > were radically different from those of the Church and so perhaps the > Church wanted to destroy these and foist its own which are European in > orientation upon them, for on the Maan the priests had no Maan (meaning > special privileges and deferential treatment) but it was the elders of the > village who had such Maan. > > > A fourth reason was to eliminate the leadership of the Gawdas for on the > Maan the leaders could only be Gawdas. > > > A fifth reason could be that Fr Luis Coutinho was a young priest when he > was appointed to Ambaulim Church and he wanted to make a name for > himself, and to this end he decided to murder our Maan, and that too > without any study of the Maan, without any understanding of the > significance of the Maan, and without any realization of what effect it > would have upon the village. > > > Thus what the Church was unable to do in the erstwhile Portuguese regime, > when it walked hand in hand with the State, it was able to do in our Indian > democracy. Ironically, in our democracy, one of the most important > cornerstones of democracy was prized away from us – our independence. > > > Just as the institution of the Maan began to be destroyed, so too the > folk-dances, the musical instruments and the art of playing those > instruments, all of which are intimately bound up with this institution, > were also given a tremendous beating (beating is not quite a good metaphor > here). > > > Those folk-songs, folk-dances and musical arts used to be passed on from > one generation to another, but with the closure of the Maan those arts > and skills of the Christian Gawdas too began to get extinct. In the year > 2008, we decided to revive the Intruz (traditional Carnival) but then we > encountered tremendous difficulty finding dhol, tashem, ghumot, madhali, > and kansalli players, and we also found it difficult to find singers who > knew the songs. > > > But somehow or the other we revived our Intruz in 2008 and from 2009 we > have enriched it even further. > > > (This was published in The Navhind Times Panorama of August 11, 2013 as > "Gawda Maand: A Phoenix like rise from iconoclastic ashes" > > > > > -- > > > Augusto Pinto > 40, Novo Portugal > Moira, Bardez > Goa, India > E pinto...@gmail.com > P 0832-2470336 > M 9881126350 > -- Augusto Pinto 40, Novo Portugal Moira, Bardez Goa, India E pinto...@gmail.com P 0832-2470336 M 9881126350