Goa’s famous festival of flags, Bonderam, will be dearly missed by everyone, as this year’s celebration, like many other festivals, will be held, however in a different way.
As the Covid-19 pandemic has pushed many of our lives indoors, “online” seems to have emerged as the ideal option for everything and everyone. From online educational classes to concerts, and now, this year’s Bonderam. The festival, organised by the Piedade Youth Association will have its festivities this year in an online mode.
Everyone across Goa looks forward to this vibrant and enthusiastic festival, which brings together communities to the scenic island of Divar. Traditions, dating back to hundreds of years suggests that the history of the festival entails around villagers opposing the rules that were in place to settle disputes related to lands.
The Portuguese, placed flags at areas where locals couldn’t reclaim their lands, prompting people to take down all these flags.
The Bonderam festival has a wide variety of celebrities, which include the popular float parades through the beautiful streets of the island village. The festival, which resembles the carnival-like atmosphere, will however be widely missed this year.
But, as Covid grapples the world, and Goa too, different practices need to be adopted as times change. And this year the celebrations will be held online, on August 29 (Saturday) from 7 pm to 9 pm, and will be available for people to view through the Piedade Youth Associations Facebook page.
A documentary, titled ‘XIM- Divar: a story of boundaries, beyond boundaries’ will also be released on the occasion. The film will showcase the great rich culture of the festival over the years.
This year certainly marks a different way of celebrations, but many hope, the same will be made up for next year.
