Crowded Market on the Feast of Saint Francis Xavier

The day I went to Old Goa was the festival St. Francis Xavier, who was one of the first priests in the catholic mission to Goa. Every saint needs a documented miracle to be canonized, and his was to not go gracefully into the night. Which is not to say he didn’t die, its just that when he did die his body did not decay for over a century, appearing to be simply asleep for the whole time. Around the early 17th century, the miracle appears to have worn off, and so now it has decomposed as expected.

Anyway, the I was in Old Goa on Francis Xacier’s feast day, and it was CROWDED, especially in the market to the south of town. I was feeling so claustrophobic that I actually hopped a fence into one of the cathedrals to get out of the crowd. Some old guy yelled at me for doing it, but it was worth it. I’ve ridden in commuter trains in Bombay, New York and Tokyo, and they had nothing on the crowd in the market.

Anyway, here’s a picture of the crowds before it got too tight for me to lift my arm up.