Stories of Goa's 'Purumentachem Fest' and monsoon provisions

The expression, ‘Saving for a rainy day’ has survived Somerset Maugham’s version of the Ant and the Grasshopper story and even the advancements in science and technology. Like ants, termites and bees, we humans are genetically wired to save, even if we do not know exactly why. 

Common salt or sodium chloride crystals from the agor or salt pans in Goa had to be carefully stored in the summer because it would not be available till the next summer. 

Food grains like rice and pulses; and spices like chilli, onions, garlic, turmeric, ginger and pepper were carefully packed in glass jars, glazed clay containers and tins of every shape and size, in the era when plastic was not yet available in Goa. 

For the rest of the ingredients, woven bamboo baskets and containers were used for storage. The woven kornno (for salt) and the koddo (for rice) were a common feature in every house back in the day.

For the rest of the ingredients, woven bamboo baskets and containers were used for storage. The woven bamboo kornno (for salt) and the koddo (for rice) were a common feature in every house back in the day.

HOW IT CAME TO BE

Since everyone cannot grow everything, these items were traditionally either bartered or sold. The traditional platform for this was the Purumentachem Fest or the village , a veritable ancestor of today’s ‘pop-up’ markets. 

The Purumentachem Fest is actually a Konkani rendition of the term ‘Festa de Provimenta’ or a ‘Feast of Provisions’.

Due to the economic blockade of Goa from 1954 to its liberation in December 1961, almost every family in Goa cultivated . If they did not have fields of their own, they bid to cultivate parcels of land belonging to the local comunidade as share-croppers. 

The comunidade received payment in kind as seistao, or xidao, as a percentage of the harvested crop. Each family sun-dried and stored the grain in a koddo after parboiling and milling enough for the monsoon season. 

The comunidade received payment in kind as seistao, or xidao, as a percentage of the harvested crop. Each family sun-dried and stored the grain in a koddo after parboiling and milling enough for the monsoon season.

Excess grain was generally collected by the revenue officer, and so very little rice was traded. It was only when the regime ended, and ‘fair price’ or ration shops started functioning, that parboiled rice began to appear at the Purumentachem Fest.

Local pulses seen at the fest include the traditional alsandde and the more recent chauli or cowpea. Chillies like Khola, Harmal (both with GI tags), Masuri, Kashmiri, Byadgi and Black varieties are an integral part of the cuisine in Goa. 

Like rice, chillies are traditionally sold by a local volume measure, called podd. The weight varies from 600 to 800 grams for , and 800 grams to a kilogram for de-husked rice.

The weight for a given volume depends on the specific gravity or density of the item being measured and the air gaps due to their irregular shape. 

A podd of dried chilies will not even weigh half a kilogram. Buying solids by weight measure in the metric system is the only legal method in India. In traditional markets, the legality is often given a go-by.

With human beings going returning to natural and food, free from artificial preservatives, the purument package of practices is bound to make a comeback. 

Technology has helped us to evolve it to the present-day requirements, but we can still make it better by researching our roots. Experience it at the Purumentachem Fest of Milagris Saibinn on Monday, May 5, 2025, in Mapusa.

(The author is the former Chairman of the GCCI Agriculture Committee, CEO of Planter's Choice Pvt Ltd, Additional Director of OFAI and Garden Superintendent of Goa University, and has edited 18 books for Goa & Konkan).