L9: Pre-Portuguese Culture: Drinks & Amusement

--- [0:00] Recap & Learning Outcomes --- Good morning. Last week — dress and cuisine. The Kunbi saree, the pre-Portuguese rice-fish-coconut food system, the transformative arrival of chilli and vinegar from the Portuguese. Today we continue in the world of everyday culture with Lecture Nine: Pre-Portuguese Culture — Drinks and Amusement. We're talking about leisure, pleasure, and celebration today. What did Goans drink before modern beverages arrived? What games did they play? What performing arts entertained them? And — very importantly — what of this culture is alive today and what has been lost or endangered? By the end of today you should be able to describe the traditional drink culture of Goa, particularly coconut toddy and feni, understand the pre-Portuguese performing arts and folk entertainment traditions, and connect these to contemporary heritage, tourism, and economic opportunity. Let me pre-empt the misconception: students sometimes see pre-Portuguese drinks and amusement as only historical trivia. But feni is currently a GI-tagged product with a growing premium export market. Goa's folk theatre forms are listed on cultural heritage registers. These are living economic and cultural assets, not museum exhibits. --- [5:00] Core Concepts --- Let's start with drinks. Before any of the modern beverage industry arrived in Goa, the primary traditional drinks were based on two things: the coconut palm and the cashew apple. Coconut toddy, called "sur" in Konkani, is the fermented sap of the coconut palm inflorescence. The sap is collected by a toddy tapper — traditionally called a "bhandari" — who climbs the palm tree twice daily to collect the fresh sap in clay pots. Fresh toddy is sweet and slightly fizzy — it has a very short shelf life, perhaps a day, before it begins to ferment. Lightly fermented, it becomes the mild alcoholic drink known as sur. Left longer, it becomes sour and is used in cooking — traditional Goan bread, the poi, is leavened with toddy. Toddy is Goa's oldest alcoholic drink, predating all others by centuries. Distilled from toddy, you get coconut feni. And distilled from the cashew apple — the fleshy pseudo-fruit that the cashew nut hangs from — you get cashew feni. Cashew feni is Goa's signature spirit. The cashew apple is crushed — traditionally by foot-treading, the way grapes are pressed in European winemaking — and the juice is collected and double-distilled in clay or copper pot stills. The resulting spirit is strong, aromatic, and unmistakably Goan in its character. It smells of the cashew orchard, of the April heat, of the Goan summer. Cashew feni was awarded Geographical Indication status in 2009 — meaning it is legally recognised as a product of Goa, like Champagne from France or Darjeeling tea from West Bengal. Only feni made in Goa from Goan cashew apples or coconuts can legally be called Goan feni. This GI protection is both a heritage recognition and a commercial protection against cheap imitations. For decades, feni was a local drink — drunk at home, at village tavernas, by Goan men after work. It was not considered sophisticated by urban or tourist standards. But in the last fifteen years, there has been a remarkable premium feni movement. Artisanal producers — some of the best known being in Siolim and Querim in North Goa — are now making aged feni, single-estate feni, and craft blended spirits. These sell at premium prices in Goa's restaurants and bars, are exported to Europe and the Gulf, and are featured in international spirits competitions. The story of feni going from backyard village drink to premium artisan spirit is a compelling heritage revival and business transformation story. --- [20:00] Deep Dive: Feni, Cashew, and Goan Identity --- Let me spend a moment on feni and identity, because this is richer than just a drink story. The cashew, as we noted last week, arrived from Brazil via the Portuguese in the 16th century. The cashew tree thrived on Goa's laterite laterite soils where almost nothing else would grow well. Within a century, it had naturalised completely — you can see the cashew orchards spreading across the red laterite hillsides all over Goa, particularly in the inland talukas of Ponda, Sanguem, and Quepem. The cashew harvest in April and May — the time when the trees are heavy with the cashew apple and nut — became a seasonal event with its own culture. Families who owned cashew groves would process the fruit over several weeks. The smell of fermenting cashew juice is one of the most distinctive sensory markers of a Goan summer. There are village fairs around the cashew harvest. There are songs about feni. There are proverbs. This seasonal, community-based production of feni is itself a form of intangible heritage. And it is threatened by the same forces that threaten all agrarian heritage: urbanisation, the conversion of cashew lands to real estate, the ageing of the artisanal producer population, and competition from industrial alcohol. The premium feni movement is trying to rescue this by making small-scale production economically viable. If a producer can get five hundred rupees for a bottle of artisanal feni instead of fifty rupees for local bulk spirit, the cashew orchard becomes worth keeping rather than selling to a developer. So let me ask you: where have you encountered feni in your own life or family? And from a business perspective — what would it take to turn Goa's feni industry into a world-class artisanal spirits export business? What do you need? What are the challenges? [Student discussion] --- [35:00] Amusement and Folk Performing Arts --- Now let's move from drinks to amusement — and by that I mean the traditional games, performing arts, and entertainment of pre-Portuguese and early Goan culture. The performing arts tradition of Goa is rich and layered. The Zagor is one of the most interesting examples. The Zagor is a form of traditional folk theatre — performed outdoors, often in temple precincts or village open spaces, typically at night during festivals. The performances combine dialogue, music, dance, and social commentary. Characters are often stock types — the clever peasant, the foolish landlord, the comic sidekick. The Zagor tradition predates Portuguese contact and was the village's primary form of dramatic entertainment. Under Portuguese rule, many folk performance traditions were suppressed as "pagan" or immoral. The Zagor survived in the New Conquests areas and in communities that maintained strong links to their pre-Christian traditions. Today, the Zagor is performed at temple festivals, particularly in Sattari taluka. It is listed as part of Goa's intangible cultural heritage. The Ghodemodni is a folk dance — the name means "horse dancer" — where performers wear wooden horse effigies strapped to their waists and perform intricate choreography to drum music. It is performed at Shigmo and at village festivals. It is both entertainment and ritual. The Dekhni is a semi-classical Konkani song-and-dance form — traditionally performed by women, depicting the theme of a young woman going to the river to bathe and encountering the divine. It has a poetic and musical refinement that places it between folk art and classical performance. The Dekhni was historically suppressed by both colonial religious authorities and later by modernist cultural attitudes that dismissed folk forms. There is now active revival work being done by cultural organisations in Goa. Traditional games — kabbadi, lagori, and vitidallu — were common in Goan villages. These outdoor games required no equipment, could be played anywhere, and served as both physical training and social bonding for young men. Many are now rare in villages, replaced by cricket, football, and mobile phones. --- [45:00] Class Activity --- Activity. Small groups of three. I want you to choose one traditional performing art or game from Goa — Zagor, Ghodemodni, Dekhni, or another you know about. Describe it: what is it, when is it performed, who performs it, and what social function does it serve? Then discuss: is it still alive in your community? If yes, in what form? If no, why did it decline? And what would it take to revive it? Business model, stakeholders, government support — be specific. [10 minutes] [Student sharing] What I consistently find in these discussions is that the performing arts everyone knows are the ones that have been adopted by the school and college annual day circuit — they've been turned into competition items. That is one form of survival, but it also freezes the form. The Dekhni performed by college students at a competition is different from the Dekhni performed by women in a temple courtyard at midnight. Both matter, but they matter differently. --- [55:00] MCQ Recap & Assignment Brief --- MCQs. One: Feni is made from — cashew apple juice or coconut toddy. Both are correct. Two: Feni received GI status in — 2009. Yes. Three: The Zagor is a form of — traditional Goan folk theatre. Correct. Four: The Ghodemodni dance is typically performed at — Shigmo and village festivals. Yes. Five: Toddy in Goa is traditionally collected from — the coconut palm. Correct. Assignment: "Reflection: Pre-Portuguese Drinks or Amusement in Goa" — three fifty to four hundred words. Choose one topic — feni, toddy culture, Zagor, Ghodemodni, or another folk tradition. Explain it, argue for its contemporary relevance, and include one photo, interview note, or personal observation. Submit in one week. Next class: Lecture Ten — Goan Weddings: Customs and Traditions. We look at the most elaborate and culturally rich social event in Goan life — the wedding. Across all communities, the Goan wedding is a performance of identity, a display of heritage, and a community institution. Bring your stories. See you then.