Sao Joao

It is the feast of St John the Baptist on June 24th. On this day young men around Goa jump into wells to retrieve gifts thrown in by villagers. This celebration is called Sao Joao, one of the more famous Christian feasts in the state. The festivals takes place at the beginning of Monsoon season in Goa and people of all ages jumping into wells, streams and ponds. They get well tanked with feni and do this. In Siolim, the village in north Goa's Bardez taluka, colourful boat races are organised on this day. On the feast day, villagers begin the day by taking a plunge in the village wells singing ‘San Joao’. The highlight of the day is the Sangodd, on which people parade singing Mandos and religious hymns. People, especially the newly married or those with a new-born (where new means before after June 24 of the previous year, that is the previous Sao Joao) gather with the dali and gifts containing seasonal fruits like moussrad mango (a Goan variety of mango), pineapples, jackfruits and a bottle of feni. The young and old alike sing and dance to the beat of the ghumot and kansallem, with lovely coronets of seasonal flowers on their heads and ‘drenched to the bone’ with feni. Many then proceed to jump time and time again into the streams, wells and ponds to keep away the cold from getting them. So if you are looking for fun, frolic and a wet-carnival like atmosphere then San Joao is definitely the best place to be on the 24th June.