Tisreanche fest

"After a clild is born in Bhattier, the family celebrates the Tisreo fest. this year the feast is being celebrated for the gift of David and Shalini's son Isaiah."

It was around 9am on sunday morning (17th May). a unique facet of Niz Goemkarponn came alive in the waddo of Bhattier in Nerul. Women from different household's picked up the Adoli cutting and scrapping from their kitchens and hurried to the house of the festacho prisdent. Eeach of the women placed the adoli on a bambo mat under a specially erected canopy. 
Like a large happy family they mounted their cutting tools and got busy cleaning large quantities of shellfish (tisreos).In another corner of the yard, others busied themselves scrapping coconut. The man, not wanting to be letf out, occupied themeselves in chopping large quantities of onion's , chillies , and tomatoes. These hectic preparations underway were all a run up to the celebrations of the Tisreacnche Fest at a tiny chapel of St.Anthony in the ward.


As per the tradition the festacho president has to serve the guest's sambaracheo tisreo (a tasty delicacy prepared from tisreo) after the litany. The entire community, relatives, friends and married daughters from the waddo turned up to partake in the Tisreanche Fest.

The festacho prisdent this time was David D'souza in whose house the sambaracheo tisreo was prepared. A guest in his house explained the tradition. She said "Aftera child is born in bhattier, the family celebrates the tisreo fest. This year the feast is being celebrated for the gift of David and Shalini's son Isaiah."

The feast has to be booked one year in advance. The tradition of this feast has been going on for generations. Isaiah's mother Shalini informed us that the family had not been able to celebratte the feat either for David or for his father.so it indeed was a accomplishment to be able to celebrate it for Isaiah.

In olden days the Tireo was served in bowls made out of banyan tree leaves. Now people have switched over to readymade silver foil bowls. There is also a tradition of serving mangoes or jackfruit along with the tisreo.

An elderly neighbour was supervising the entire cooking operations. She explained that the main dish served is:
Sambaracheo Tisreo 81/2 (sacks of tisreo)
160 coconuts
5kg masala
35kg onions
8kg tomatoes
1kg ginger
11/2 kg garlic 
6kg of sugar
10 pkts of oil
besides other ingridients are required to make this dish. she told us that se regularly makes the masala and sells it to customers as far as the United Kingdom.

The cooking operations finally wound up at 7pm and the litany began at 8pm. Tiny yound voices sang as the violin provided the music. In a final retual the patron for the next year was requested to come forward. He knelt down in the chapel and a small prayer was said for him . Another prayer went out for the good cooks of the feast.

Finally everybody picked up the shellfish, emptied the shells, relishing the whole process thoroughly. I saw raw mangoes smeared with spices being served in the bowls along with some bread.
Its great to see one whole community bonding over this feast. It's these traditions that have made Goens famous for being hospitable, magnanimous and fun loving people.