Miguel Braganza
It will be the beginning of the month of August and the focus will be on the coconut tree (cocos nucifera), which is the state tree of Goa. Since coconut trees are cultivated here, hence the coconut kernel is still authentic. So is the rice that is seeing a revival in Goa, thanks to mechanisation of transplanting and harvesting in recent years. The inconsistent rain has affected rice cultivation but not dampened the spirit of the farmers.
It is now the time for ‘godd-chun’, the Goan tradition of eating the coconut kernel sweetened with coconut jaggery. Since we love variety to sweeten up our lives during the dreary monsoons, we steam up the tradition with ‘patolleo’, ‘moott’, ‘dhrone’, ‘donneh’, ‘holeh’ or ‘foleh’. The turmeric leaves for ‘patolleo’ and jackfruit leaves for the rest give each dish a distinct flavour and appearance. Thin rice noodles known as ‘shevyo’ or ‘shirvoyo’ with grated coconut, milk and jaggery may also be cooked. The Goan specialty for the first day of August is ‘attol’, a rice kheer with split chickpea or ‘chana dal’ and jaggery.
On August 5, the village of Raia will celebrate the ‘konsam’ or blessing of the rice ear-heads in the fields, with ‘patolleo’. For the rest of Goa during the Independence Day of India, it is also celebrated as ‘Konsamchem Fest’ together with the feast of Assumption of Mary since the dogma was promulgated by the Vatican in 1950. The island of Divar celebrates the festival of ‘Bonderam’ on a Saturday after August 20 at the Our Lady of Piedade Church. This year, the dates are August 15 and August 22. Both these festivals are now tourist attractions.
Coinciding with the ‘Piedade Bonderam’ this year is the ‘Konsam feast’ of the Comunidade of Taleigao on August 22 as per the colonial tradition dating back to 1511 A.D. It is a token of gratitude for their collaboration with Timmaji Nayak and Mhalu Pai Vernekar to feed the defeated forces of Admiral Afonso de Albuquerque between June and November 25, 1510. The rest of Tiswadi will have to wait two days to celebrate it on August 24.
There is a shortage of chemical fertilisers and their prices have shot up because of the USA-Iran war that benefits Israel at the cost of the whole world. The Government of India is encouraging the use of alternatives. The traditional manure was headload of green leaves of the ‘Uski’ or ‘Ukshi’ for each coconut tree. The Glyricidia sepium trees are now cultivated along the boundaries of coconut gardens to provide the green leaves for manure. They have the added advantage of being a repellent for rats, a problem of coconut crop. We also have rock phosphate (Uniphos) microbial cultures like phosphate solubilising bacteria (PSB) that are being promoted instead of fertilisers. We need to understand and use them while manuring fields of rice and coconut because of erratic rains.
