Shigmo

Shigmo, or Shigmotsav, is celebrated in the Hindu month of Phalgun, and its dates move with the lunar calendar. It takes two forms: Dhakto Shigmo, the smaller festival kept by farming and rural communities, and Vhadlo Shigmo, the larger one that draws in the whole community with song and dance.

In the villages the festival begins with the invocation of local deities to the beat of traditional percussion, including the dhol, the tasha and the ghumat. Processions known as romta mell move from village to village, and folk dances are performed along the way. The music and dance are carried through the streets over several days.

The float parades that most visitors see are held in the larger towns across the state, with elaborate floats drawing on mythology and folk culture, accompanied by dancers and drummers. They are a spectacle, but the festival's roots are in the village and the farming year, and that is worth keeping in mind.

Shigmo is often described as a festival of colour, and coloured powder, crowds and dust from the dry streets are all part of the parades. For a house on or near a parade route, that means fine powder drifting through open windows and settling on whatever is nearest. Powder can travel further than people expect on a breezy day.

Coloured powder on a pale sheer or a light upholstery fabric can be stubborn, especially if it gets damp before it is brushed off. On parade days, closing the street-facing windows, or at least drawing heavier curtains across the sheers, keeps most of it out of the room. A little forethought on the morning of a parade saves a difficult cleaning job.

If powder does reach fabric, brush or vacuum it off dry before washing. Wetting it first can set the colour into the fibre. The same approach works for the ordinary dry-season dust that builds up on curtains through February and March. Test any cleaning method on a hidden area first, such as the back of a hem, before treating a visible mark. If the colour does not shift, a professional cleaner is a better next step than repeated washing at home.

From November to March, the difference between day and night temperatures in Goa is wider, at around 8 to 12°C, and the mornings feel fresh. By April the nights stay warm and the range narrows, which is one reason the weeks after Shigmo feel noticeably more oppressive even before the peak heat of May.

The sun also climbs higher in the sky through these months. South-facing windows under a deep roof overhang may actually receive less direct sun as the season goes on, while west-facing windows take the low afternoon sun at full strength. The rooms to watch are the ones where the sun reaches furniture in the late afternoon.

A simple test is to note where the sunlight falls at four in the afternoon in early March, then again three weeks later. If the patch is growing or reaching a sofa, a bed or a work desk, that room is a candidate for solar control before the hot months, not after.

Screen-fabric roller blinds cut glare while keeping a view out, and the more open the weave, the more view and the less shade. They suit living rooms and studies used in the afternoon. The trade-off is that they do less for heat than a solid fabric and provide little privacy at night.

Sheers soften light and protect furniture from the harshest sun while keeping a room bright. They are the lightest answer and often the right one for a room that is merely too bright rather than too hot. On their own they will not tame a west-facing room in April. Layered with a heavier curtain, though, they give a flexible arrangement for the whole year.

Solution-dyed acrylic and outdoor canvas are the materials to consider for awnings and external blinds, because the colour runs through the fibre and resists fading. Exterior shading is the most effective option for heat, but it has to be planned for the monsoon, when strong winds and heavy rain arrive.

Verandas and balconies are among the most used spaces in a Goan house through the dry season, and outdoor blinds and awnings make them usable into the afternoon. Spring is the natural time to install them, with dry weather and a hot season ahead to justify them immediately. They also protect veranda furniture and cushions from fading.

Every outdoor treatment needs a monsoon plan from the start. Awnings should be retractable or removable, and roller blinds need to be rolled up and secured, or taken down, when the rains and onshore winds arrive. A blind left down in a monsoon storm can be torn or pull its fixings out of the wall.

Motorised outdoor blinds add convenience but also a question about power cuts, which the monsoon can bring. A manual override, or a battery motor that can still be retracted without mains power, is worth asking about before choosing the system. Wind sensors that retract a blind automatically are another option worth discussing, particularly on an exposed upper floor. Any motor used outdoors near the sea should be rated for the exposure and have its housing checked each year.