THE GOAN NETWORK | PANAJI
The world is getting closely connected and interknitting of customs and values is now a common feature while celebrating festivities and occasions. At this crossroads, the citizens of the global village are taking pride in going back to their roots to celebrate culture, traditions and rituals.
The fourth-generation son in a family that transcends three continents decided to celebrate his wedding in Goa in the most traditional way with Rôs or cleansing ceremony.
“This ceremony used to be the prime attraction before any wedding in Goa in the good old days. Rôs meaning juice, extract or milk and this used to be of coconut in those days,” explained Marius Fernandes, father of the groom.
“As there were ample coconut trees in Goa, and because coconut is considered to be a god-gifted fruit in its purest form, people from the olden days used the extracted juice of the coconut to pour on the bride and groom, as part of the cleansing ritual before the wedding. It was a symbolic act, the way haldi (turmeric) paste is applied on the skin of the bride and groom, coconut juice was used.”
“Over time, a fancy form of this ritual came up, and modern couples were bathed in eggs, beer and whatnot, instead of the pure coconut milk,” said Marius, who tried to revive the tradition in his son Ashley’s wedding and remind people of the traditional ritual.
Wanting to be a role model for the Goan diaspora and motivating others to follow the traditional wedding ceremony in the village, the couple who are born and brought up in the UK, decided to have a Rôs ceremony in Goa.
The groom, Ashley, works for Apple in London and the bride, Louanne Dias, works for a start-up Click Mechanic, also in London. They flew down to Goa as Ashley originates from St Mathias Divar Island, and Louanne’s family belongs to Benaulim.
The soft launch of this Rôs ceremony was held with innovative concepts of zero waste and revival of original Goan tradition in Benaulim.
The bride draped in the original hand-woven Kunbi saree and the groom also in a Kunbi kashti (men’s traditional waist-wear), their hair adorned in local flowers truly soaking in the celebrations that their nature-friendly forefathers had designed.
The event began with a serenade of Goan traditional percussion instruments – ghumots, kottieos and guitar winding its way from the bride’s home to the venue. After a short prayer by the bride’s mother Caroline Dias, the bridal entourage were offered tender coconut water as welcome drink. The guests were offered hot boiled grams in jackfruit leaves. The gathering was entertained by group performance by ‘Louis & the Melodians’ led by bride’s father José Dias.
The family played a crucial role in all the rituals – maternal uncles of the bride, Dr Zelio D’Mello and Clifford D’Mello adorned her with the ‘chuddo’ (bridal bangles). The bride and groom along with the entourage were anointed with a mixture of pure fresh coconut milk along with locally made coconut oil which marked a sign of cleansing and purifying the body and the soul for the wedding – a holy union. This was served in jackfruit leaves and gathered in a kotti (coconut shell). Only a kottiful Rôs was poured on the bride and the groom. No wastage of Rôs which signifies purity.
A copper utensil called ‘kail’ and coconut shell spoons were used to sprinkle Rôs on the entourage, bringing back nostalgic memories of how it always was meant to be in Goan villages. Using only Rôs and no adulteration or mixing of eggs, beer or flour, so that the original traditional ritual was kept intact, without any distortion.
The decor for the ceremony was woven coconut leaves called mollam, cloth flags and local flowers mogra and acalypha hispida (cat’s tail). Music and Konkani songs from the 1960s entertained the attendees. Tables were full of home-cooked Goan food – pulao, fish Balchão, prawns molho, pork cabidela, sannas with toddy, torradinhas, caldinha de verdura, vhonn and tizaan (as millet is the grain of the year). Goa’s pop star O’luv regaled the worldwide audience with his original songs, lyrics about the fruits and flowers and landscapes of Goa.
“The Rôs ceremony was documented by filmmaker Frezeo Fernandes to release across social media in the hope that the Goan diaspora will be able to replicate the same henceforth and take it to the world by practising low cost, eco and people friendly events which bind families and friends in true Goan style,” said Ashley.
This was a ceremony that went back to the roots of Goan culture and heritage. It was also a zero-waste ceremony keeping the environment in mind. The decorations were weaved coconut leaves with local flowers like abollim, mogre and shunti. The music was only in Konkani with Goan percussion instruments Ghumots, Mandallam and Kottieo (coconut shells).
“With theme of our wedding as ‘Traditional Goa’ it was the first ever Rôs ceremony I witnessed and participated in. It was a beautiful melting of cultures whilst preserving some age-old traditions and introducing some new concepts, at the same time. It made my special day all the more memorable, thanks to my father who conceptualised it applying his mantra – go back to your roots, respect nature, spend less, use eco-friendly material and embrace zero-waste concept,” stated Ashley.
After the Rôs, the soon-to-be-daughter-in-law was welcomed into the Grão family by a unique gift – a family frame in caricature art done by Goan artist Vaibhav Salgaonkar.
