Shigmotsav

The Sigmotsav, also known as Shigmo in Goa, is a spring festival celebrated every year in Goa. In the festival, a parade is held in which folk dancers and street dancers perform. Religious scenes and mythology are depicted in elaborately built floats.

The festival is a celebration of tribal communities of the state of Goa for the Golden, rich harvest of Paddy. Agricultural communities like Velips, Kunbis, Gawdas celebrate this festival that also marks the onset of the Spring Festival.

The festival starts with Naman, which is an invocation of the local folk deities on the village with the beats of Ghumat, Mhadle, Dhol, Tashe by the Male members. It is called Romta Mell, that moves in villages after villages.

Folk dances like Gopha, Phugadi, and Ghode Modni are performed during the festivals and parades. The street parade is organized in Panaji, Panjim, and other cities of the state.

In the colorful parade, people dressed in traditional colorful dresses and perform dances, that are showing historical significance like the Maratha war. This festival continues for a fortnight and is held in the Phalgun-Chaitra months of the Hindu calendar which falls in the month of March-April according to the English calendar.

Day by day the parade becoming very popular among tourists so it attracts a large number of tourists from India and abroad.