Drapehaus
Drapehaus
Preparing the room
Drapehaus
Preparing the room
Season
São João falls on 24 June, a fortnight or so into the monsoon, and it is the festival that celebrates the rains rather than enduring them. Across Goan villages, particularly in the Bardez and Salcete areas, the day is marked with kopel flower crowns, processions and the well-known tradition of leaping into wells and ponds swollen with fresh rain.
By the Drapehaus studio · 19 September 2026 · How we write
It is a genuinely joyful moment in what is otherwise the most difficult period of the year for a building. And that contrast is the useful part: while the festival is celebrating the water outside, the same saturated air is sitting inside the house doing quiet damage to everything absorbent in it.
This page is here partly as a marker in the Goan calendar and partly as a well-timed reminder, because late June is exactly when the monsoon damage described elsewhere on this site begins.
By São João the monsoon has properly set in. Humidity is at its sustained peak, the first heavy rain has soaked into walls, and any fabric that went into the season damp has now been damp for two weeks.
This is the point at which problems become fixable or become permanent. Mildew starting now, caught in the last week of June, can usually be dealt with. The same growth found in September generally cannot.
If the pre-monsoon preparation did not happen — and for a great many households it does not — late June is the last realistic opportunity to do a reduced version of it. Take down what can come down, check behind every curtain, and hook hems clear of the floor.
São João brings people into houses, which in the middle of the monsoon has a practical dimension. Wet feet, wet clothes and open doors bring a great deal of additional water indoors on a day when nothing dries.
Curtains near entrances take the worst of it. If a doorway curtain is going to be splashed and handled by a stream of people, it is worth hooking it clear for the day rather than discovering the marks in July.
This is a small thing and it is the kind of small thing that determines whether fabric comes through the season well. Most monsoon damage is not one dramatic event — it is an accumulation of avoidable dampness.
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São João is the feast of the birth of St John the Baptist, kept across the Catholic world on 24 June. What is particular to Goa is the way it is celebrated: revellers leaping into wells, ponds and streams, a gesture associated with the Gospel account of the unborn John leaping in his mother's womb.
The kopel, a crown woven from flowers, fruit and leaves, is worn by revellers through the day, and in some riverside villages decorated boats and rafts are paraded on the water. The celebrations are rooted in the village, the chapel and the family, and the rain is part of the occasion rather than an inconvenience.
For anyone new to Goa it is worth knowing that this is a religious feast as well as a joyful public one. Visitors are generally welcome to watch, but it is courteous to follow the lead of the local community, particularly around chapels and private wells. If you are staying in a village, ask your hosts where the celebrations will be and how visitors are expected to join in.
A day spent jumping into wells and walking in the rain produces a great deal of wet clothing, and it all comes back into the house on an evening when nothing will dry outdoors. Where it goes matters. Draped over chairs, sofa arms and curtain rails, it puts water straight into upholstery and fabric.
Decide in advance where wet things will go. A bathroom, a utility space or a covered veranda with a fan is better than the living room, and a simple drying rack placed away from curtains keeps the moisture in one place. A fan running over the rack overnight dries clothes far faster than still air.
Towels and bath mats deserve the same thought. In June, a damp towel left folded on a chair for a day will smell by the evening and can mark the fabric beneath it. Spread them out, move air over them, and wash anything that has started to smell rather than putting it back in the cupboard.
Many of the celebrations centre on villages and on houses near rivers, creeks and paddy fields, and these are also the homes where the monsoon is felt most indoors. Ground close to water stays saturated, walls wick moisture from below, and morning mist hangs over the fields well into the day.
Older village houses built from laterite with lime plaster manage this better than people expect, provided they are allowed to breathe. The trouble starts when a curtain is hung flat against a damp wall, or a sofa pushed hard against it. Leaving a gap of a few centimetres between fabric and wall lets air circulate and makes a real difference.
Floors deserve attention too. In a ground-floor room near water, anything soft sitting directly on the floor — rugs, floor cushions, the hem of a long curtain — will absorb moisture all season. Lifting and hooking up takes minutes and saves the item. Where a room floods occasionally, keep curtains short enough to clear the floor for the whole season.
The early monsoon is also the season of insects. Flying ants and other insects swarm to lights on wet evenings, and a house with doors open for guests and lights on late will collect them. Some end up on and in pale curtains, where they can leave marks that are difficult to remove.
Fine mesh screens on windows and doors are the lasting answer, and the monsoon is when their value is most obvious. For a single evening, keeping lights low near open doors and switching off lamps close to curtains reduces the problem considerably. Ceiling fans also help, since many small insects struggle to settle in moving air.
The damp evenings of June are also when silverfish and other fabric pests become active in stored textiles. Curtains and linens put away for the season should be clean before storing, because food and body oils in fabric attract them. The page on insects and screens covers this in more detail.
By São João, the pattern of the next three months is set, and a simple routine carries a lived-in house through it. Once a week, draw every curtain fully back and let air reach both faces. On any dry break, open windows on both sides of the house and run fans to push air through.
Once a month, lift each curtain and look at the wall side, especially the bottom third. Check wardrobes and cupboards, where fabric is stored in the dark and still air, and leave doors ajar on dry days. Wipe any leather, which marks quickly in these conditions. Anything that smells musty should be taken out, aired and, if needed, washed on the next dry break.
None of this takes long, and all of it is easier to keep up if it starts in June rather than being remembered in August. June brings more than 900 millimetres of rain in a normal year, and July brings more; the habit formed around the festival is what gets the house through both.
Diagnosis
WhyThe early growth was never looked for, and by September it is established and usually permanent.
FixCheck behind every curtain in late June. Caught then, it is almost always treatable.
WhyMay ran out, as it usually does.
FixLate June is the last realistic chance for a reduced version — take down what can come down, check the rest, lift hems.
WhyWet clothes and hands against fabric on a day when nothing dries.
FixHook curtains clear of entrances before people arrive. Trivially easy, and it prevents a mark that sets in.
WhyThis is the sustained peak of monsoon humidity and it is the normal condition for late June.
FixRun fans on dry breaks, draw curtains fully back, and treat a musty smell as the early warning it is.
WhyWet clothing brought in after the celebrations and draped over furniture on an evening when nothing dries.
FixSet up a drying rack with a fan in a bathroom or utility space before the day, well away from fabric.
WhyFabric hung flat against laterite that wicks moisture, with no air circulating behind it.
FixLeave a gap of a few centimetres between curtain and wall, and check the wall side monthly.
WhyLights left on near open doors and curtains, attracting swarming insects in the early monsoon.
FixFit fine mesh screens, and keep lights low near open doors and curtains on monsoon evenings.
Checklist
Check behind every curtain for early mildew
Take down anything that can come down, even now
Hook hems clear of damp floors
Tie doorway curtains clear before hosting
Run fans during dry breaks
Treat any musty smell as a warning, not a nuisance
Set up a drying rack with a fan away from curtains and upholstery
Leave a gap between curtains and damp walls
Keep lights low near open doors and curtains on wet evenings
Start a weekly routine of drawing every curtain fully back
FAQ
On 24 June, about a fortnight into the monsoon. It is a festival that celebrates the arrival of the rains, marked with kopel flower crowns, processions and the tradition of leaping into rain-filled wells and ponds, particularly in the Bardez and Salcete areas.
It is late but not useless. A reduced version is still worth doing — take down anything that can come down, check behind every curtain for early mildew, and hook hems clear of damp floors. Mildew caught in June is usually treatable; the same growth in September is not.
Hook them clear of doorways and entrances before people arrive. Wet clothes and hands against fabric on a day when nothing dries will leave marks that set in, and it is a trivially easy thing to prevent.
Because it is. Humidity reaches its sustained peak around this point and stays there for months. It is the normal condition rather than a fault, but it is also exactly the condition that produces mildew, which is why late June is the right time to start checking.
São João is the feast of the birth of St John the Baptist, and the leap into wells, ponds and streams is associated with the Gospel account of the unborn John leaping in his mother's womb. Goa is known for marking the feast this way, along with kopel crowns of flowers, fruit and leaves.
Somewhere away from curtains and upholstery — a bathroom, utility space or covered veranda — on a rack with a fan running over it. Draping wet clothes over sofas and curtain rails puts water straight into the fabric on days when it cannot dry, which is how marks and mildew start.
A few centimetres is enough to let air circulate behind the fabric. In older laterite houses and ground-floor rooms near water, walls hold moisture through the monsoon, and a curtain hung flat against one will mildew on the wall side. Extended brackets or a slightly deeper track make the gap easy.
Fine mesh screens on windows and doors are the lasting answer. On wet evenings, when flying insects swarm to light, keep lamps near open doors and curtains switched off or low. Store off-season fabric clean, because food and body oils attract fabric pests such as silverfish.
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