Puppets and feasts

NT BUZZ

As part of the monthly History Hour programme at the Museum of Christian Art, Old Goa, professor of Religious Studies at Claremont McKenna College in Southern California Daniel Michon will speak on ‘Nuns at (the) Play’ on
January 9, 6 p.m.

Michon, who has published a series of studies centred on archaeology and religion will be talking about his book ‘Shadow Puppets, Songs and Sacred Feasts’. In particular it will dwell on ‘The Entrada de Bonifratepara a Festa dos Reis’ (The Arrival of the Puppets for the Feast of the Kings), a puppet show composed in 1740 and most likely performed on January 6, 1741 (the Feast of the Kings, or Epiphany) by the Augustinian nuns cloistered at the Real Convento de Santa Mónica in Goa. The text contains an eclectic mix of comedic skits, dances, magic tricks, recipes, and ditties, all of which serve to frame the main event of the evening: the singing of praises to each nun living in the convent. The performance draws upon both the Indian tradition of shadow puppetry and the early modern Portuguese tradition of puppet opera. The concerns embedded within the text reflect the convent’s location in Goa, the administrative, ecclesiastic, and economic heart of the Portuguese Estado da Índia.

Michon’s earlier books include ‘Archaeology and Religion in Early Northwest India: History, Theory, Practice’, and ‘To Serve God in Holy Freedom: The Brief Rebellion of the Nuns of the Royal Convent of Santa Mónica, Goa, India, 1731-1734.

Details: +918308805399