Carnival Revived After A Three Year Hiatus In The 80's

The Carnival as we know it today was not always this way and has witnessed its fair share of survival struggle. Shaeen Gomes takes us through the Carnival’s revival and journey thereafter.

- Shaeen Gomes

AS we celebrate Carnival in a big way nowadays, many don’t even know that Carnival had reached a dead end in the years 1985 to 1987 when the Pastoral Committee at the Catholic Church gave out a call for boycott of the festivities since it was not Catholic in nature. The people stayed off the celebrations as a result, with 1985 being a Carnival with lukewarm response from the people, and with a total boycott in 1986 and 1987.

Prof. Sergio Carvalho’s Jagrut Goenkaranchi Fauz (Alert Goan Army) was formed in 1987, and they went about opposing reckless development and the hijacking of development plans especially those that were aimed at changing the topography and landscape of Goa’s Coastal zones. Since charter flights were just in their nascent stage, Prof. Sergio was keen that the influx of tourists would not damage Goa’s sensitive eco zones as well as the dilution of Goan culture at the hands of rampant and unwanted tourism. He opposed the Carnival in 1987 itself and was adamant that the commercialised Carnival did not take root.