Sao Joao Festival 2023: Religious And Fun Filled Boating Rituals

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Sao Joao is the Feast of St John the Baptist. It is celebrated to pay tribute to St. John, the saint who baptized Jesus in the river Jordan.

It is usually held just when the monsoon sets in on June 24. Although the entire Goa celebrates it, it is mainly held at Siolim in North Goa. Boat festivals, well jumping, music, dance, partying, kinky attires, and monsoon feasts characterise this event.

There are parades with people singing Mando and religious hymns. There are competitions to showcase talents. The venue for the boat revelry in Goa is the Siolim, near the Chapora river. This is where the main festival of Sao Joao is celebrated.

Boat festival is designed in such a way as to bring merriment and mirth in people. Monsoon season at this time, adds to the enthusiasm with its fine drizzle that adds to the fun and frolic of the moment.

June 24 is the day to watch out for, to indulge in small pleasures. Boats come in from places like Arambol, Chapora, Anjuna, Badem and so on. Boat decoration is the chief attraction and a visual feast for the eyes.

Leaves and varieties of colourful flowers are lavishly spread inside and outside of the boats. Figurines of guitar, birds, fruit baskets, sea creatures, mythical creatures, snakes, and dragons occupy the seats with the people on the boat.

The time taken to build these boats to this level requires sometimes even weeks. A regular decorated boat takes a few days though. If some villagers are unable to participate in this festival, they send exquisitely decorated boats to Siolim that represent them and their village.

The entire event is a riot of colours with even people showing off their multicolour attires on the boats.
The boating starts at 3.30 pm official time. The first boat will reach church at 4 pm and the last boat by 5.30 pm. Each year, about 6-7 boats are decorated and set afloat in the river.

The village names or group names will be imprinted on the boats. The boats are quite small which can hold 10 people at a time. The only other festival that is as colourful and enjoyable as Christmas is the Sao Joao festival that begins six months before Christmas in June annually.

It may be mirth laden, but it also has religious shade to it. This is a festival with a unique and distinct religious touch. People wear fancy dresses that are in line with the mood of the moment, masks, and interesting headgears and jump into lakes ponds and so on.

They throw gifts into water which the kids and adults retrieve by leaping into the water and searching for it.
Goa treats this festival more as a fun filled and frolicsome event and celebrates its gala time by wild celebrations, fancy dresses music and merry making in general.

The rivers and lakes are full and flowing at the moment, with summer heat receding back, it is time for lush greenery to sprout up everywhere, and this adds a meaningful background to the ongoing revelry.