By Selma Carvalho

Baby Jesus in a straw manger, paper stars hanging from balcony beams, home-made sweets and savouries, midnight mass, and open-air dances; these memories swirl like toffee when I think of a Goan Christmas. To drink deeply of nostalgia, I rifled through old newspapers to get a sense of how Goans have celebrated Christmas through the years.

One correspondent for The Times of London recounted a 1930s ‘Christmas in Goa’: “Our host and hostess were a charming couple who lived on the revenue of their property and had a large house with many rooms to spare… Christmas dinner proved to be something like a private cabaret, the entertainers being the younger members of the family of our hosts. We sat around a long room and a bottle of vintage wine was opened. A young man gave us a tune on the fiddle and was loudly applauded. Then some of the boys and girls danced to the music of the gramophone. The proceedings followed the same sequence all over again – wine and further toasting, music and dancing and food. What the dishes were, I cannot recall at this distance, but they certainly included every type of Goan delicacy, highly spiced sausage, tamarind fish and so on. And of the wines that came around I have no count.”

The home-grown tradition of celebrating with food, singing, music and dance forms a common thread throughout Goan diaspora history. The lead into the Christmas Season is always the feast of St Francis Xavier, wherever Goan communities congregate. It was commemorated almost from the inception of the Catholic Church in British East Africa. The saint was co-opted by the tailoring community, who named all their charities, guilds and clubs in his honour. In 1920, the Nairobi Goan Tailors’ Society petitioned the Kenya government to declare 3 December a holiday for Goans. Although unsuccessful, they did manage to be excused from work till 10 am, allowing them enough time to attend the morning mass.

One account of Christmas celebrations in early Nairobi appeared on the African Standard, January 1913, titled ‘Goan Xmas Sport.’ The reporter noted: “Favoured by just the proper weather for an occasion of this kind, the Christmas Sports organised by and held under the auspices of the Goan Union on Saturday, proved to be an unqualified success. The Sports, which were really of the nature of a children’s fete were well patronised and the somewhat versatile programme secured many entrants. The grounds – those of Mr Campos situated between River Road and Victoria Street – were decorated for the occasion with flags of all nations, and a display of evergreens and bunting was in evidence in the vicinity of the Ladies’ stand and the stall… Many well-known Goans and Indians with their wives, families patronised the Sports and a prominent figure was that of Mr R. A. Nazareth whose firm was the donor of the cup which bears his name. During the course of the Sports, an orchestra composed of some gentlemen who had kindly volunteered their services, discoursed music.”

The ‘Mr Campos’ they write about refers to Julio Marcelo Campos who arrived in Nairobi circa 1898, joining the Uganda Railway administration, as a typist. This early pioneer, a young, articulate man whose family originated from Saligao, was a founding member of the Nairobi Goan Institute and would play an integral role in the political and social life of Nairobi. The other Goan mentioned R. A. Nazareth, was an equally prominent pioneer, one half of the Nazareth brothers from Moira who in the opening decades of the 20th century heralded a formidable business empire across Kenya.

It is of course, the cultural organisations, the Goan associations, societies and clubs which bear the burden of organising public functions in the diaspora. With the decolonisation of Africa, and the subsequent re-settlement of East African Goans, the legacy of the East African Goan associations was carefully implanted in England, Canada and Australia. The seedling for the Goan Association UK (G.O.A) was sown on 26 December 1962, when a group of Catholics gathered at Finsbury Park to discuss the idea of a ‘notional association’ which would provide respite from the loneliness of being away from home, felt all the more acutely on Christmas Day. This seedling finally found fertile ground in 1966 as the association that exists today was born, but throughout the 1970s, Goan village associations also sprouted across London suburbs, to further a sense of kinship and bonding. The Christmas calendar is marked by events such as the tea or Santa party for children, Christmas mass, Christmas lunch, and culminates with the New Year’s Dance. One rather splendid description of such a dance appears on the G.O.A newsletter dated March 1975.

“Saligao Association had their New Year get-together at Notre Dame Hall, Leicester Place [London] on 1st January and what a resounding success it was. The Social was preceded by sung mass in Notre Dame Church, at which Rev. Fr. Le Clerc officiated. The Choir was manned by the ever-popular pair of Virginia Vaz and Tolly Barretto…Then followed the stampede down the steps to the hall, which was tastefully decorated for the occasion. Over 400 members, their guests and families were then entertained to a sumptuous meal of Biriani so that they could withstand the non-stop dancing that followed. Superb music was provided by the Beat Group, ‘Strangers.’…The highlight of the evening was a Konkani duet by Tolly and Virginia followed by Kunbi item by the ‘Strangers’…this was followed by Dulpods.”

Even as Goans assimilate and embrace new traditions such as stuffing turkeys, drinking eggnog, and watching the snow powder their driveways, it is the old songs, the old recipes, the old rituals they brought with them from the home country and passed on to their children, that take them to a place of familiar joy. Season’s Greetings to all.

Banner picture paper stars sold in Goan markets courtesy of wikipedia

 Selma Carvalho is editor at JRLJ.