VILLAGE CHAPEL FEASTS, GOA, India

Feasts in Goa are commonly celebrated in almost each and every chapel or church dedicated to the village patron saint.  It is customary that these feasts be celebrated by the “President” who bears all the expenses involved. In the absence of a president the village celebrates the feast by subscriptions from the people of their particular villages.

Of Village Chapel Feasts

It was the day of the feast of their patron saint in the village chapel. The chapel bell rang at 5 o’clock in the morning. The young boy had told his mother the previous night before going to sleep, to wake him up before five o’clock that morning, as he was very anxious to hear the band play the “Alvorada” soon after the bell. He did not want to miss hearing the tune he liked so much.

No sooner the pealing of the bell fell silent than the band started to play his favourite tune in full swing. It could be very clearly heard in the pre-dawn serenity and calmness of the morning, in spite of the chapel being quit a distance away from where he lived. The music sounded great and the boy was breathless trying to catch each and every note so that he could remember and hum it to himself later. Or perhaps one day he would learn to play it himself on an instrument like his neighbour did, he thought.

He would not go back to sleep again. He had to be on time for the first Mass as he had been selected to serve as one of the altar boys. On the way to the chapel he would try and memorize and repeat the Latin words to himself as he did not want to get them wrong or reply out of turn. In those days the Mass liturgy was in Latin.

As he neared the chapel in the misty early morning dawn, a girl dressed in her best approached running to the young lad, and picking a tiny paper flower from her small and neatly decorated basket, she pinned it on his shirt. Reaching in his pocket he deposited a coin in her basket for which she thanked him. This money was collected for the poor.

There used to be a lot of other Mass services that were held by the hour especially on feast days. The solemn high mass would start at 10 o’clock in the morning along with a lot of fanfare, pealing of bells, firing of crackers and the boom of the “khozne”.

There were lot of small stalls already lined up by the side of the chapel selling all sorts of things, sweets of different types, roasted gram, fire-crackers, balloon and toys.

The boy would never miss the concelebrated high mass by priests from other parishes specially chosen and invited for the occasion by the celebrant of the feast. More importantly this mass was never to be missed because there was special choir along with orchestral backing of various musical instruments like the oboe, flute, piccolo, clarinet, fife, cello, violin and the double bass.

The choir master tried to do his best waving his baton while he directed the choir of talented youngsters. The boy greatly admired so many voices blended so well together singing high and lows, first, second and thirds. Some of those faces of the boys in the choir were new to the boy. Perhaps they were chosen from another parish, he thought. Next year or perhaps even after that he would be selected and trained was his wishful thought.

A well known priest, famous for his thundering sermons,  had been summoned for the grand high mass. He began by first invoking the patron saint to shower his blessings on the celebrant and his family, the villagers and their guests. He admired the beauty of the old chapel and praised the organizers for doing such a good job in decorating the chapel. He then intoned a short verse from the Scriptures in Latin that echoed through the chapel and followed with a brief explanation of the same. The sermon seemed quite long.

Otherwise the people would say it was very short. If it was short the people would say that he did not say anything at all. He was wiping the sweat off his face every now and then with his hand kerchief which he tucked in the broad sleeves of his vest while his black cap rested on the edge of the pulpit. He was a very good preacher, well prepared, loud and clear, and said everything to the point.

Twice in between his sermon he did say a verse again in Latin, words which he had especially chosen from the Scripture and gave a brief explanation of the same while outside the chapel, in the stalls, there was a lot of activity which was normal and usual during these types of feasts.

Then there was Holy Communion and Benediction during which the choir sang a beautiful and solemn rendition of “O Salutaris”. Later at the grand procession, the boy along with the other altar boys were walking at the front of the procession line, which was led by the celebrant carrying a holy banner of the day’s saint with Latin insignia written on it, followed by an assortment of clergy, confraria in their purple and red “opmus”, the villagers and their guests from far and near, while the chapel bells tolled amidst the sound of Gregorian chants that the band played trudging along last in the line.

After the Mass was over the boy, everyone wished “Happy Feast” to everyone else. Later as was customary the boy gave alms to the poor who lined up outside the chapel holding coconut  shells in their hands. One of them, a frail old man said to the boy: “May you become a big and clever boy” And another old man with a cane said: “May God give you good health and a good job when you become big”. The boy wished he could distribute more change to the rest of them but he needed the change himself that was left. He did not want to run short. So the boy then bought a small toy car for himself which he had seen and selected before the high mass services could begin. He had saved little money to buy it. Also his mother and grandmother had given him some money, saying: “Hey, son, this is for you, for the feast”. He used that money for some roasted gram and sweets and went on his way home for a great lunch that awaited him.

While he walked home through the winding road through the fields and  villages  people were lighting crackers and some of them said to him from their balconies: “ Happy Feast, come for the feast to our house” to which the boy replied “You must come to our house, Happy Feast to you too.”

As he kept on walking home he thought to himself: “THE FEAST IS OVER”.