In Portugal three saints, St. Anthony, St. John the Baptist and St. Peter the Apostle, are known as the "Popular Saints". Their festivals are on the 13th, 24th and 29th of June respectively according to the church calendar and this little verse:
A treze do mês de Junho
Santo António se demove
São João a vinte e quatro
E São Pedro a vinte e nove.
On the 13th of June
St. Anthony is on the move,
Whilst St. John is on the 24th
and St. Peter on the 29th.
It is only natural that in a country like Goa where the Portuguese spread Christianity these three saints should be worshipped by the Christian community with the same degree of devotion as the Portuguese. However, due to local conditions, the Goan tradition of worshipping the three saints is different from the Portuguese.
St. Anthony was born in Lisbon and died in Padua, hence the reason why he is known equally well as St. Anthony of Lisbon and as St. Anthony of Padua. According to Portuguese tradition, he is the great Magician to whom thirteen miracles were attributed. Thus his feast day is preceded by thirteen days of devotion instead of the usual novena. To the Portuguese he is a miracle-working saint par excellence and they invoke his assistance for searching for lost objects.
Like St. John, St. Anthony is also a matchmaking saint, especially for devoted lovers and girls of a marriageable age. The people sing the following song to encourage the girls:
Ó moças, andai ligeiras,
l(de) pedir a Santo António
Qu'vos ponha em linha
No Livro do Matrimónio
São Gonçalo casa as velhas,
Santo António as raparigas;
Cantai moças ao Santinho
As vossas belas cantigas.
Oh maids, step lightly,
Go ask St. Anthony
To enter your name
In the Wedding Register.
St. Gonzalo marries the old maids,
St. Anthony the young maids;
Girls, lift your voices to the Saint
And sing your lovely refrains.
This song is as much for the Saint as for the girls:
Santo António, Santo António,
às moças 'stendai a mão;
Correi, moças, i(de) depressa,
Fazei-lhe uma petição.
St. Anthony, St. Anthony,
Stretch out your hands to the girls;
Run, girls, run,
And make your wish.
Or once more to the girls:
Ó moças, se quereis noivos,
I(de) esta noite a ribeira,
Que os moços, louvando o Santo,
Vão armar uma fogueira.
Oh girls, if you long for grooms,
Go to the water's edge tonight,
For the lads are preparing a bonfire
In praise of the Saint.
St. John the Baptist is also featured as a matchmaking saint in the repertory of folk songs:
Agora no São João
É o tomar dos amores
Estão os linhos nos campos,
e toda a terra tem flores.
No altar de São João
Nascem rosas amarelas,
São João subiu ao céu
A pedir pelas donzelas.
Ó meu São João Baptista,
De que quereis as capelas?
De cravos e mais de rosas,
Com cravinhas amarelas?
Hei-de deixar ao relento
Uma folha de figueira:
Se São João a orvalhar,
Hei-de encontrar quem me queira.
Now on St. John's day,
Is the time for finding love
The flax is in the fields
And the country covered with flowers.
Yellow roses blossom
On St. John's altar,
St. John has gone up to Heaven
To intercede on behalf of the damsels.
Oh, St. John the Baptist,
What garlands would you like?
Garlands of carnations and roses,
With dainty yellow carnations?
I must leave a fig leaf
Out in the fresh air tonight:
If St. John sprinkles it with dew,
I shall surely find my love.
While St. John is the matchmaker for the girls he is equally represented as the patron saint of shepherds, dressed in a lambskin with a sheep at his side:
Abaixai-vos, carvalheiras,
Com as pontas para o chão:
Deixai passar os pastores
Que vão para o S. João.
Bow down ladies,
With your eyes on the ground:
Let the shepherds pass
On their way to meet St. John.
The tradition of St. John in Goa is closely connected to the burning of an effigy of a Jew (quite different to the Portuguese custom of burning a figure of Judas) on the eve of the feast of St. John. The burning signals the end of Judaism and the beginning of Christianity. A large straw figure of the Jew is made and placed at the front door to be burned at nightfall, just as the Portuguese do with Judas.
No less popular is St. Peter. Curiously enough, although St. Paul's feast day falls on the same date there is hardly any mention of him in Portugal. St. Peter receives particular devotion from fishermen as he himself was a fisherman and it was to him that Christ gave the task of fishing for souls as well as making him a cornerstone of the Church and doorkeeper of the Eternal Kingdom:
Nas praias da Galileia,
Andava o bom do São Pedro,
A lançara rede ao mar
Sem ter receio nem medo.
Vêde, raparigas, vêde
Como o Santo deita a rede.
Desdo o pequeno São Pedro
Começou logo a pescar
E agora é quem tem as chaves
Do paraíso eternal.
Vamos dar nossos louvores
Ao Santo dos pescadores.
On the shores of Galilee
Kind-hearted St. Peter was walking,
Casting his nets into the sea
Without fear or apprehension.
Look, girls, look
At how the Saint casts his net.
Saint Peter started fishing
when he was a child
Now it is he who holds the key
To the Kingdom of Heaven.
Let us lift our voice in praise
To the Patron Saint of Fishermen.
Although the more elevated social groups in Goa celebrate the "popular Saints" in a refined version of the Portuguese custom by holding dances in the clubs, in actual fact the common people celebrate the feast days in quite a different way.
In Portugal the feast days of the Popular Saints fall at the height of Summer and are celebrated with village fairs, dancing outdoors, bonfires, torch processions, the singing of hymns and so on. In Goa, this is the rainy season and the way in which each Saint is celebrated is completely different from Portugal. All three saints, however, are linked to the monsoons.
To start with, St. Anthony's name is invoked for a good rainfall as he is the miracle-working saint. If there has been no rainfall by the 5th of June (Mirga) and if the drought goes on until the 13th, the people carry images of the Saint in a procession through the town and beg him to intercede on their behalf and request God for rain:
San Anton Figueanchó
Paus ghal Devacho.
St. Anthony of the Portuguese people, Let the rain of God fall.
The following verse arose perhaps because he is often portrayed with a book in his hand and the Infant Jesus:
Sant Anton virgó
Escolacho bhurgó
Sant Anton Devagueló
Paus ghal sorgaveló.
Innocent St. Anthony,
The schoolchild,
St. Anthony of God
Make the rain fall from Heaven.
On St. John's day, every newlywed son-in-law goes to his in-laws' home (mavoddeá) and, before the merrymaking begins, he places a crown on his head and jumps into the well to bathe. This jump is symbolic of how, according to the Bible, St. John entered St. Isabel's (his mother) womb while she was embracing the pregnant Virgin Mary:
Soglé amim zanvoem vortotaunv Choddá tempan bhettleanv
San Jucanchem fest mhunnon amim
Mavoddeá ailem.
Matear amim copelam ghalun
Udok naunk bhair sorleanv
San Jucanchem fest muhunon amim
Chodd khoxi zaleanv.
All of us, sons-in-law
Have come to visit after a long absence
The homes of our parents-in-law
For today is the feast of St. John.
With these crowns on our heads
We are going out to bathe
We are happy and cheerful
For today is the feast of St. John.
According to Goan tradition, St. Peter, the doorkeeper to the Kingdom of Heaven, not only lets the righteous pass into heaven after death but also has control over the celestial waterfall and thus rainfall:
San Pedru, San Paul,
Chavi kadd,
Jesu Maem,
Paus ghal.
St. Peter, St. Paul
Open the gates of Heaven
Mother of God
Make the rain fall.
* Doctor, journalist and researcher (Goa.)
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