GUARDING GOA'S WALLS ... FOR A HUNDRED YEARS OVER TIME

by Frederick Noronha
fredericknoronha@gmail.com

This is the story of a quaint publication and the septuagenarian lady who presently oversees its every aspect. The publication once marked each passing day in the life of a generation of Goans, but today is largely forgotten. But in the past, the almanac wasn't just a quaint collector’s item. At its peak it sold some 5000 copies, according to 74-year-old Elsa Correia, daughter of the founder of this publication, the late Joaquim Filipe Roque Correia, who first published it in the year 1903.

'Almanac de Parede' is a kind of 'wall calendar' that has completed a quiet centenary of its publication from the South Goa town of Margao. Yet, this event would have gone almost totally unnoticed had it not been for the persistence of a Dutchman. Explains Patrice Reimens, an Amsterdam-based researcher curious about varied cultures encountered across the globe, "Almanac de Parede is basically a double A3 piece of paper, printed in black and white, very traditional. It lists all saints' days and all feasts in all Goan parishes, as well as some postal and other information. It is available in Margao, may be less outside." Reimens was keen to lay his hands on a couple of copies, one for a friend in Romania, where they have "exactly the same, typically Catholic thing".

It is still published in the Portuguese language, probably one of the very few publications in Asia in that language. Goa's last Portuguese-language daily, O Heraldo, shifted to the English language in 1983, due to dwindling readership in the tongue of the former colonial rulers of what is currently India's smallest state.

Elsa Correia, fighting shy of the publicity and the credit for carrying out the publication, says that after the death of her father in 1968, it was continued by her late brother, pharmacist Domingos Correia. She has taken over the reins, "not as a business, but just to continue and serve the readers", as she put it.

"He (my father Joaquim Correia) was a ‘calendarist’ -- and knew everything regarding calendars, including religious calendars. He was the proprietor of Tipografia Progressa (‘Tipografia’ is the Portuguese word for 'printing press') located behind Margao's Holy Spirit Church," Correia recalls.

"It contains much useful information, and is the only annual publication in the Portuguese language in Goa. I've received letters from Italy and elsewhere (voicing interest about it)", she says.

Currently the print-run is 1500 copies. Much of the calendar focuses on giving a run-up on which saint's feast falls on which day of the year. There are also details of the full moon, new moon and quarter-moon dates, feasts of various churches and 'zatras' (temple festivals) around Goa, postal rates, bank and commercial holidays. In the past, it cost 25 paise. Today, the price is six rupees for the single newspaper-sized sheet, printed on one side.

Septuagenarian Correia says she doesn't have a calculation of the time spent to bring out this publication. "I sit anytime and do it, and need to see other calendars or consult those who accurately know the Hindu festive days. “Some feasts change dates, so as to fall on a Sunday. But in villages like Chandor, the feasts are always fixed," she adds.

She says the press run by the family once brought out other publications. But it became old and “nobody was interested in supervising it". The earlier generation has to cope with advancing age, and the youngsters are not necessarily interested. "He (my father) taught me. Now I need to revise those principles," she jokes.

As if to mark changing times, there is a new set of calendars in Goa. But these are more likely to be in Marathi or English, with only a few published in Goa. Many come from the much larger and more vibrant publishing houses of nearby Maharashtra, focusing primarily on an area that is culturally not wholly dissimilar from this small state. 'Kalnirnay' is one of the most popular that sells in many editions and in a number of languages. Its unique formula is to include on the back of each page of the annual calendar, household hints, recipes or anything else of interest to womenfolk

Almanac de Parede has anyway seen a tumultuous century for Goa, marked by many drastic changes in the regimes that ruled the place and the languages which were favoured by the rulers and the citizens.
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Frederick Noronha (42) is a Goa-based journalist, photo-enthusiast, book reviewer, Free Software proponent, ICT4D (information and communication technology for development) campaigner, copyleft backer, and believer in the need to build social capital. He has been long associated with Goanet (www.goanet.org) as a volunteer, through which network he circulated many of his "brieFNcounters" interviews.