The picture seen here of the gleaming white Holy Cross picture was taken during my visit to Cumbiem Morod, Guirim, Bardez, Goa, nearly 2 years ago. I was amazed with nostalgia to see how it has stood the test of time until now for 3 generations in front of an ancestral family home of our close neighbours in our village. The area around this Cross was once our childhood playground of various types of games including the timeless common and simple games of 'Hopscotch', 'Foueio' and 'Lobieo' that young girls and boys from the village played after coming home in the evening from school. An overlay of the hopscotch pattern drawn over the picture is a touching remembrance of a bygone era bringing back a flood of good childhood memories.
There are various Crosses of this nature in Goa. Many are found in front of houses. Some have built-in niches for holding candles or clay wick lamps. Crosses are also found along the roadsides and paths through the fields and on riversides, seen gleaming on a moonlit night.
They are built in a typical fashion as shown above from laterite stone and cement/mortar, and finished in limestone white wash lasting for generations. The lime wash is a product made from burning limestone in a kiln mainly coral and shells.
