Goa celebrates silver jubilee Carnival
09 February 1998 23:13 IST Goa would celebrate 25 years of its famous Carnival festival, which the state government had started in a commercial and professional manner, discarding the traditional carnival held in villages.
The four-day festival would begin from 21 February, to be held in all four major towns of the tourist state. The main attraction of it would be the floats, to be held in Panaji, Margao, Vasco and Mapusa, respectively from 21 to 24 February.
The theme of this years' carnival would be "25 Year of Carnival", combined with 50th year of Indian independence, says U D Kamat, the tourism director. Besides the King Momo's official float, it would include floats in five other categories.
The categories for floats are divided into sponsored, institutions, traditional, family and the fun junky car rally. The four-day programmes in each town would also include several other cultural programmes including Konkani skits, concerts and several competitions.
The state-sponsored carnival had come under severe criticism from the Goan Church as well as several NGOs, compelling the authorities to stop this festival for five years from 1986 to 1990. Its increasing commercialisation and westernisation at the cost of traditional Goan culture had been condemned by all sections.
Carnival was then revived since 1991, putting restrictions on dresses, dances, commercial banners etc, though it has once again started entering into the festival through the backdoor. The Church still appeals to the Catholic community here not to participate in the state-sponsored festival.
