Catholics in Goa worship the Hindu goddess of destruction
By Jules Gomes, Church Militant.
Goan faithful blast Cardinal-Patriarch for promoting religious syncretism
At an annual festival in the town of Cuncolim, Goa, Catholics in the former Portuguese colony (first evangelized by St. Francis Xavier) have joined Hindus in worshipping the goddess of destruction. In a display of unabashed syncretism, significant numbers of Catholics are offering flowers, coconuts, fruits, rice, milk, sweetmeats and incense sticks to the idols of Shantadurga Kunkalikarin, a Hindu deity also known as Durga, the goddess of destruction.
“There is a lot of involvement of Catholics. I would say about 30–40%,” said Wendy Gomes, trustee of the Cuncolim Chieftains Memorial Trust told The Times of India, detailing Catholic participation in the “umbrella” festival of Sontrio (Chatrotsav) held earlier in March.
The devotees carry a red “sacred” umbrella representing the goddess and a dozen white umbrellas for each of the 12 local clans. Dancing while carrying the umbrellas, the red-powder-smeared participants toss handfuls of powder in the air around the goddess Shantadurga’s silver palanquin. “We have two mothers, one is Shantadurga and the other is Saude Saibinn [Our Lady of Health],” Alister D’Souza, a local Catholic, told the Indian newspaper. The local parish of Our Lady of Health was first built between 1600 and 1604.
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