Taleigao Celebrates the first harvest

The unique harvest festival or Konnsanchem Fest was celebrated in style in the village of Taleigao, which has the privilege of being the first in Tiswadi taluka to do so, on August 21 at St Michael's Church, Taleigao.
Konnsanchem Fest involves the traditional cutting of first sheaves of corn as part of the thanksgiving ritual for good harvest, by the devotees and the farming community in particular. The feast, which continues over four days, begins early in the morning with the brass band making its way through the main streets of the village and awakening the eager villagers, who get ready to attend a thanksgiving mass and seek Almighty blessings for a bumper harvest at the Church of St Michael, the Patron saint of Taleigão.
In the morning, all the devotees gather in the church. On the arrival of the president of the feast, the whole congregation including other gauncar members of the fraternity carrying on their shoulder the image of St Michael and accompanied by the Priest and ‘confrades' go to the field readied for the harvesting ceremony. Once in the field, the first sheaves are cut by using a silver sickle, after short prayers and blessings of the crop by the Priest. Sheaves are then distributed to the devotees gathered there and a few are collected in a silver tray and carried back to the church where they are kept at the main altar before the beginning of the High Mass. During the offertory, the tray is presented to the Lord as a token of gratitude for the blessing of yet another good crop. On August 24, the concluding day of the four-day festival, the representatives of the Comunidade of Taleigão go to Old Goa, where a special mass is celebrated in the ‘Sé Cathedral' during which sheaves of paddy and ‘fov' are blessed. Besides the representatives and other parishioners of Taleigão, many other devotees from the neighbouring villages of Ribandar, Divar, Corlim, Carambolim and Old Goa also participate in the Eucharistic celebration. Thereafter, the representatives proceed at Altinho and offer both the blessed sheaves of paddy and ‘fov' to Archbishop of Goa, being the religious head of the Catholic community in Goa and then at Raj Bhavan, Dona Paula to the Governor of Goa, who is the Head of the State. These are offered to them as a symbol of love and goodwill.
On Monday, the masses during the day were celebrated at 6.30 am and 8 am, while the feast mass was celebrated at 9.30 am. In the evening a music concert titled ‘Konkani Kantaranchi Sanz - V' was held at the Taleigao Community Hall.