Bonderam Day 2021: Date, History And Significance

Add as a preferred source on Google

Bonderam Day is a festival that is celebrated on 24 August every year at Divar Island, 12 km from Panjim, Goa. On this day, a carnival is set up and the quaint island of Divar is agog with excitement. The people participate in music, song, and dance and celebrations galore.

Source: Heraldgoa

History And Significance Of Bonderam Day

In two sections of the village Piedade and Sao Mathias, frequent disputes used to occur over land issues. This led to blood fights and sometimes even death. Then, the Portuguese introduced a system to demarcate boundaries. They used flags to divide their boundaries and set up banners to stamp zones so that the villagers would not be able to take control over the lands of the close by towns.

However, the villagers knocked down the flags and challenged them by destroying the banners. The Bonderam festival is celebrated in memory of this incident and is commemorated with a Fotash flight (toy weapon of a bamboo stem). Berries are used as missiles in a mock fight between groups of people.

People from different parts of Goa assemble in the village every year on this day for this colourful celebration.