The Siolim 'Zagor'

by Reyna Sequeira

Salil, Milan and I attended the traditional zagor festival at Siolim. The zagor was held this year on 31st December 2007 at Gude–Vaddo in Siolim. The zagor is jointly organized by the Christians as well as the Hindus of Siolim. There was a big fair surrounding the area of the maand. People lit a lot of candles and offered flower garlands to a place where there was a small ghumti (small temple). Zagor is staged at the Zagreshwar temple. There was a big crowd in the temple; the vehicles had to be parked at a distance and we had to walk for around 10-15 minutes to the actual place of the maand. There is a small gathering which proceeds to the Zagreshwar temple from both the sides of the temple which is termed as suvaari. We proceeded towards the northern side of the temple to come along with the suvaari. We enquired from the local people about the actual place of the suvaari and we realized that some people did not have much knowledge about the same. When we went to one of the local houses to enquire, the family living there urged us to come and dine with them. The food was already laid on their table. It contained both vegetarian and non-vegetarian dishes. The family treated us warmly in their house. They narrated to us about how for the past 2-3 years the suvaari from this particular ward had been banned from entering the Zagreshwar temple due to some tension in the village. We had a quick meal with this family and chatted with them for some time. We then proceeded towards the site of the suvaari. It was at St. Anthony’s chapel. A big crowd had gathered which included Catholics and Hindus. Some men were beating drums and one young man had entered into a trance. People were shouting 'Don’t leave our children' 'Amchea bhurgeank soddun vochun naka deva.' I was amazed. We were all lost in the crowd. I climbed a newly constructed house near the chapel and climbed on top of it so that I could get a clear picture of what was happening in the chapel. Some women gathered in the chapel and the in a trance just came running out from the chapel and was dancing with the beating of the drums. Married women from the surrounding houses were offering sannas – a sweet made from rice, sur (toddy from coconut palm) and coconut which is a speciality of the village – to the possessed person. The person in the trance was considered as God. Some people were objecting to our clicking photographs but one gentleman told those people to just move so that I could click pictures. Later, an announcement was made to the people to not click pictures of the possessed person. At one point of time the possessed person ran away from the crowd where people made way for him.

Later we moved to the place of the maand. I saw many Catholic women participating in the zagor. I asked the women whether they had not gone for the midnight mass on New Year’s eve - they told me no they will be going the next day in the morning. When we went to the maand both Catholics and Hindus were singing and performing on the stage at Zagreshwar temple.

These zagor were being performed at various places in Goa, but it did not have a very high status in Goa and since they were performed usually in the night there were different things that used to occur. In such zagor the neighbour would be criticized, which girl or boy is in love with whom and other social issues used to be taken up in the zagor. Siolim Marna used to have three zagor first in Vaddy Keri but this has stopped since many years. Second in Marna in the church ward where the Catholics used to perform wherein they used to play the ghumot and madllim and perform in this zagor. It was usually performed on the day of the feast or on the carnival day till recently. And the third is Gudde zagor which is prevalent till date. The leaders of this zagor are the village elders later who will keep the tradition alive. Whole night there is a lot of gambling activity which takes place.

The Tiatr that is performed in the zagor is more like that of a natak (Hindu drama).The people play ghumot and madim, sing songs, make a lot of noise and take a procession from the road to a place called Maand wherein there is a stage. They climb there and start singing and dancing followed by a suvaari(procession).In this suvaari only the males participate followed the leader of the zagor the zagorio who is always a Hindu comes with another suvaari. Then there is a custom called Barboria wherein they make a circle and dance on the stage. Then comes the Mavonni(wherein the men are dressed like the women) among this women there is one male. This is followed by a king who comes with his sword who dances on the stage and later followed by the bhonvor. The specialty of this zagor is although the Hindu brethren celebrate the zagor the songs which are sung are usually of the Christians.