Belagavi: As the novenas to St Francis Xavier begin, the Goan settlers in the upper ghats region of the Western Ghats from the districts of Kolhapur and Belagavi gear up for the yearly walking pilgrimage to Old Goa. With their ancestral roots embedded in various Comunidades of Goa, these Konkani speaking settlers identified as Zonnkars, despite being away for over four centuries have still kept their bond with Goa alive. Thus the walking pilgrimage that was started by Late Swamy Prabhudhar, the distinguished Jesuit in 1982 from Ajara has been strengthening their faith which they strongly believe was bestowed upon them by St Francis Xavier whom they affectionately address as Goencho Sahib.
While over 1000 walking pilgrims are expected to reach the Basilica of Bom Jesus on December 2, the farthest among them are the pilgrims from Ichalkaranji near Kolhapur. Identified as Manchester of Maharashtra by the virtue of the continuous clattering of power looms, Ichalkaranji is over 250 km from Old Goa. Four walking pilgrims from here namely Xavier Fernandes, a teacher, Ruzai alias Ravi D’sSouza, Wilson D’sSouza, and James Bardeskar set afoot for Old Goa early Tuesday morning and are expected to cover the distance of over 250 km by foot reaching Goa on December 2. En route they would halt at Nippani, Gadhninglaj, Nesari, Here, Bhedshi and Bicholim, the tradition that they have kept alive for over three decades and a half.
When in Sanquelim, Neil Monteiro, an entrepreneur and himself an ardent devotee of St Francis Xavier serves the pilgrims appetizing food and breakfast while Thomas Fernandes and family serve them steaming hot food in the campus of the basilica on December 2. A special mass is also organized every year for the walking pilgrims.
Photo and Story Courtesy: indiancatholicmatters.org
