Not many states in the country mark Independence Day the way Goa does. Reason: August 15 is also the feast of the Assumption, the day Catholics commemorate the assumption of Mary, the mother of Jesus, into heaven body and soul.
As early morning mass timings clash with flag hoisting, Catholics try and combine the two. This happens also at the Raj where the feast is celebrated with mass at chapel in the estate.
It is the day the Raj Bhavan comes alive as hundreds of people pour in through the gates to attend mass in the almost 500-year-old chapel and many others line the road in the estate selling candles and flowers, as gun-totting policemen keep a watchful eye on all.
The chapel sits in the corner of the Raj Bhavan estate, and attentively listening to the homily during the mass is Joel D'Silava, 34. "I like the idea behind this grand feast, the crux of it is liberation of two kinds'”India's and Mother Mary's," says D'Silava.
Taleigao parish priest Fr Aquileo Gomes speaking to TOI also makes an important connection between India's Independence and Mother Mary. He said freedom does not mean we have the right to do everything but it's about what we should do. "We ought to be politically free and free from sin," Gomes says. "People come here all the way from Salcete, the prayers are meant for the country and Mother Mary," he adds.
People flock in from different parts of Goa to the Raj Bhavan on this day and it's not just for the feast. Sharmila hastily walks through the crowd, tightly holding her 7-year-old son hand. "I have been coming here every year for the last eight years, the chapel opens to a beautiful view, it feels perfect." A resident from Velsao, some 25km away from the Raj Bhavan, Kankonkar says the bus journey is the most tiresome part of the day.
Students stroll in after the flag hoisting ceremony in their schools. "it's fun, we get pocket money to come here and buy whatever we want, sweets, jewellery, bags. More than anything else we feel free on this day," says one of the kids from among a group of children from the neighbouring Our Lady of the Rosary High School.
Shalifa Periera, 14, has been coming with her family from as long as she remembers, "My dada says it opens only on this day every year and that our prayers will be heard."
Historian Percival clears the misconception that the chapel is open for just one day of the year. "
There was a governor some two decades ago that kept the Raj Bhavan chapel open only once a year on August 15. Now the chapel is open to the public on other days as well."
Not many turn up on other days, and many who celebrated the feast on Sunday, will only return next year on August 15 for another celebration.
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