BELGAUM BLUES: KUSWAR, A PLATE WITH UPTO 20 DIFFERENT SWEETS
Dear Flo,
When we spoke recently, you evoked such a nostalgia when you
mentioned that you were busy preparing Kuswar for the arrival
of your children at Christmas. This is a Goan/Mangalorean
Christian tradition of the preparation and exchange of sweets
at Christmas. I think it has its roots in the tradition of
the exchange of sweets at Diwali by the Hindus. Well done
Flo, and all of you who keep up that wonderful tradition.
Sadly I've fallen by the wayside on that score.
Kuswar as you know consists of at least 20 or so
different kinds of sweets -- pastries, cakes and
toffees. For example, kulkus, neuris, kokada,
bolinhas, batica, dodol, fruit cake, ribbon cake,
doce de grão, suspiros, pastéis de nata and many more.
For us in the deSilva family this 'ceremony' would start
about the fifteenth of December. We would start late into
the evening after all homework had been completed and the
family Rosary recited. Such was the anticipation that there
were never complaints about doing our homework or reciting
the Rosary. I think there was a competition of who could
recite a Hail Mary in the shortest time. Was it like that
for you in the Coelho family with your lovable brother
Martin, irascible brother George and younger sister Gemma?
We would start first with the pastries -- neuris, kulkuls,
angels' ribs... weighing, kneading, rolling and deep frying.
Do you remember Flo, in the years soon after the Second World
War, when there was rationing? Provisions such as white
flour (maida) and sugar were at a premium and few people
could afford the black market prices.
The maida flour was an essential ingredient for all the
sweets. We the deSilvas were most fortunate. You see, Dad
(Julius) served in the Royal Signal Corps in Burma and as
such we were entitled to military rations which were
plentiful in comparison.
Mum (Jovina) made sure that she drew her full entitlement and
distributed the provisions among the members of the Ladies
Sodality. Last year, our school friend Celina Fernandes in
Toronto reminded me of Mum's generosity in sharing these
provisions with her Mum, Adalgiza Costa Pinto, Amy deSouza,
Kathleen deSouza, Mrs Silgardo, Ismenia Pereira, Violet
Pereira and many more. Darryl Silgardo recently reminded me
of how his Mum made chapaties from corn or jowar or millet flour.
Next would be the preparation of the cakes -- fruit cake,
ribbon cake in many colours. Most families didn't own a
domestic oven so everyone had to send their cakes for baking
at M.K. Swamy's in Church Street. However did people
manage to transport the cakes all the way from Goje Building,
Blue Castle, Khanapur Road, I would never know.
Perhaps by dumny or tonga? For us in Picket Road
it was easy as we had access to Swamy's via the
back door. Once at Swamy's we had to make sure
that we got back the cakes that we had sent. It
must have been a logistics nightmare for poor old
Swamy. He insisted that each cake was labelled but
during the course of the baking the labels would
slip off and it was not uncommon to end up with
someone else's cakes.
The mixing of dodol and 'doces' required elbow grease but
with two young brothers, Joe and John, there was no problem
in our household. They were more than happy to undertake the
task as the bonus was to get a chance to lick the big mixing
bowl. Once they got tired they would enlist the help of the
Cardoso boys next door. Of course we had to keep an eye on
the younger siblings, Fatima and baby brother Clifford. They
could be up to all sorts of tricks on the pretext of going to
bed. On one occasion they dared each other playing with
matchsticks with disastrous effects.
In the more lavish households families would include
cashewnut toffee. Of course bebinca would be more
challenging as the recipe requires forty egg yolks (yes, 40!)
and a vast quantity of coconut milk, flour and sugar, the
baking of which in the domestic makeshift oven would take all
day, layer by layer. Few could afford the expense or have
the stamina for this marathon feat.
Once all the sweets were prepared we had to make sure that we
had adequate airtight storage containers. All over Belgaum
the talk before Christmas was "Have you made your cake?" or
"I didn't have enough sugar to make bebinca this year?"
Then came the exchange of the kuswar.
A tray covered in a beautiful crocheted cloth with a sample
of all the sweets prepared would be exchanged with families,
in particular those who had suffered a bereavement during the
year. The bearer of the tray would get a tip -- a couple of
annas.
After 1956 we used to send a tray of kuswar to St Joseph's
Convent for our sister Olive who had joined the Canossians by
then. On Christmas Day, we would also distribute sweets to
the Domaris who came to the door. Somehow I can't recall
seeing them at any other time of year.
The highlight of Christmas was of course attendance at
midnight service -- High Mass with singing of the Latin mass
in several voices and well-known carols. I absolutely loved
it. Thanks to Mukund, the local dressmaker, the ladies would
turn out in new outfits and warm coats.
After midnight Mass, parents and children would go to bed
whilst the teenagers would go carolling through to the early
hours of the morning, stopping at friends' homes for a cuppa
and to taste the kuswar perhaps at Wildred deSouza's or Philo
deCruz's. It was particularly warming on the cold December
nights. On one occasion we even managed to go to Dickie la
Tushe's in Hidalga some on the back of Dickie's motorbike.
In our household, Joe and John would invite some friends of
other religions to Christmas lunch (Medio Bhada and Madaya)
where there would be a spread of all kinds of food, potato
chops, sorpatel pillau, sannas. Mum would prepare Burmese
Kwoh Shwei followed by the kuswar, of course.
After lunch, do you remember attending the
Christmas Tree party organised by the St Vincent de
Paul Society? It was held in the grounds of St
Paul's under the leafy gol mohur tree (now no
more). It was intended for underprivileged
children, where little bags of sweets and toys were
distributed but teenagers loved to attend as it was
an opportunity to meet up with their friends and
then go to a party.
Those were such wonderful days of our youth, the memories of
which have remained with me for a lifetime. The shortages of
food never spoilt the excitement or fun at Christmas. Don't
you think we are spoilt nowadays with the plentiful supply of
food?
Affectionately,
Cecilia
Cecilia deSilva Suarez, Epsom, February 2012.
--
This missive was written as the first contribution to a
somewhat delayed ebook on Goan experiences in Belgaum, India.
If you'd like to contribute an article to the same, contact
Cliff D'Silva (who features as 'baby brother Clifford' above)
via WhatsApp +91-90493 19910 or email cliffa...@gmail.com
Goanet Reader is compiled and edited by Frederick Noronha
(FN) fredericknoron...@gmail.com
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