Goa is all set to enjoy the biggest Bonderam festival, the Traditional Flag Festival of Divar Island organised by Piedade Youth Association which will be celebrated On August 24, at the centre of the island from 3 pm onwards.
This year will be even more special as the association will be celebrating its 40th Bonderam festival.
The feast of Bonderam is celebrated on the fourth Saturday of August every year at Divar Island. The name Bonderam revolves around the involvement of flags which in itself is an interesting story. Frequent disputes which occurred between two wards (section of the village) - Piedade and Sao Mathias - over property matters often led to duels.
Subsequently, the Portuguese introduced a system of demarcation of boundaries with flags of various nations. The rival groups, however, knocked down the demarcation flags sometimes with stones. Today, this age old practise is commemorated with a Flag Festival, while doing away with the Fotash fight where berries were used as missiles in a mock fight between rival groups to knock down an offending flag.
Clarence Fernandes, one of the organising committee members, informs, “The communidade began celebrated Bonderam to signify the harvest festival on the island. It started to this boundary or xim between Goltim- Navelim The celebration of Bonderam by the island’s communidades went on uninterrupted until 1983, when it was discontinued due to a financial crunch. It was at this juncture that the Piedade Youth Association took over the celebration from the communidades of Goltim- Navelim with an interest to preserve the popular festival. It is now 40 years that the youth association has been celebrating the grand festival. We have six wards depicting colourful floats on Goa’s tradition and culture. We have All Goa Fancy Dress Competition in senior and junior category and an evening of music and entertainment.”
He further adds, "Over the years, each of the six wards has been creating one unique float annually which makes nearly 240 well ideated floats in the last 40 years, which is just amazing."
On Saturday, the island will be revived with new energy as every member of the families will be taking on different roles for the celebrations. The festivities will begin with the flag parade at 3 pm from the Club House en route Communidade of Goltim/Navelim to Vitozem, with the brass band back to Asilo ground Goltim/Navelim followed by the All Goa Fancy Dress Competition and the float parade by six wards, Premiero Ward, Romantic Ward, Maddant Stars Ward, Jingle Bells Ward, Vitozem Ward and Divar Centre Ward. Each float will be alloted a slot of 25 minutes of performance. The stage for the six floats is well designed with foldable aluminum partitions that will hold the crowd back and let the dancers put on a great show.
The same barricades will be taken away to open the dance floor for an evening of musical extravaganza.
Every year, each ward composes their own songs. There are marks for music, floats, presentation with each ward having a minimum of 100 participants, from ages 3 to 80 years.
The foot tapping Konkani music will begin with a performance by O'Luv at 7.30 pm followed by Goan band Black in White live on stage, who will keep the dance energy abuzz before the final act for the night as DJ Brainwash takes the stage live with Legit Sherwyn. RJ Ayesha Barreto will compare the well-organised evening that promises the best of Goa' culture and tradition put forward by the talented Diwadkars through their creative floats.
Porbu Waddo-based Freddy Ferrao from group Romantic has been a part of Bonderam since his childhood and vividly remembers the first Bonderam organised by Piedade Youth Association. He was a school going child then but his love for art knew no bounds then and now. Freddy also travelled to the UK last year to create Bonderam floats for the Diwadkars there who were missing the taste of the Goan festivity. However, this year he had to give it a miss as it will be held just a day after the Divar Bonderam, on August 25. "I cannot miss our Bonderam in Divar. It's a huge celebration of our unity and this year it is grander as it is the 40th year. The prize for the best float has also been increased and the new trophy is also bigger and different. It is a huge milestone to keep this tradition alive for so many years with same and much more enthusiasm," says Freddy, as he adds the finishing touches for the float.
Reminiscing about the first float, he says, "We had to create the float with whatever material was available on the island. I must have been in Class 9 or 10 then and we were inspired by the TV series, 'Star Trek' and Dr Spock. We created a float based on UFOs and the dancers too had to dressed according to that theme. For the girl dancers, we made them star with bamboo framework covered with golden glitter paper and the boy dancers were planets. It was Jingle Bells Ward's float with a huge corn and sickle based on agriculture that won the first place followed by a float by Divar Centre on Freedom Fighters that won the second place. I think we might have won the third place but it made us realise that people enjoy floats that they can relate to and we stuck to traditions of Goa. Over the years, our floats have won many awards."
Menino Fernandes from Vitozem took a break from working on their Ward float to share his experience, "Our first float was on communal unity between Hindus, Catholics and Muslims. We have been consistent with creating floats, maybe giving a miss just two times. Our children have grown up creating the floats and dancing in the parade and now our grandchildren are also a part of it. It is great excitement and even motivation to keep us all together. Everyone is involved. However, over the years, we have realised that there is a decrease in manpower as many families have settled in the UK. They have the desire to visit for Bonderam, unfortunately it is not vacation time. They also can't just join the float as everything is well rehearsed days in advance."
Keeping up with the times, Bonderam invites Goans to enjoy the hospitality of Divar Island for an exciting and grand celebration.