Ancient fertility festival.
In January and February every year, the Gaude community of Goa celebrates a festival of dance known as Dhalo. It is an ancient ritual with origins in the fertility cult. Although both men and women participate in the festivities, the womenfolk assume the primary role. The central theme of Dhalo revolves around a group dance to the tunes of folk ditties. Performances begin late at night and continue into the small hours of the morning. The traditional setting was outdoors typically in a village clearing but these days much of the scene has shifted to the temple lobby.
These are vignettes of Dhalo I witnessed in 2013.
Colours of Dhalo
5D Mark III, 24-105L
Traditional lamp offering
5D Mark III, 24-105L
Celebrations get underway
5D Mark III, Zeiss ZE 50 f/2 MP
Lined up for the dance
5D Mark III, 24-105L
Flowers and finery
5D Mark III, Zeiss ZE 50 f/2 MP
Women, sarees, colour
5D Mark III, 24-105L
Dhalo outdoors in Taleigao
5D Mark III, 24-105L
Awesome pictures. If I am not mistaken, other communities especially in Pernem Taluka also celebrate Dhalo.
Sajo,
Yes, that’s true, although Dhalo is most identified with the Gaude.
The most colourful post in your bouquet. Excellent!
Thank you, Premanand.
I regularly follow your photo posts. I just wanted to know how the colours in your photos are so vibrant? What kind of post processing do you do?
Anup,
The colours were vibrant to begin with so all that was necessary in post-processing was to brighten them a bit. I use Adobe Camera Raw (ACR) for converting my RAW files and then do additional processing in Photoshop CC.
Superb in every way.
And no surprises here: “Although both men and women participate in the festivities, the womenfolk assume the primary role.”
The blurred ones really work. Very fine.
Thank you, Thomas.