In a practice that dates back generations, children from various neighbourhoods make an effigy of an Old Man and burn him at midnight to commemorate the ringing out of the old and the ringing in of the new. Made of hay, bamboo and paper, the old man represents all of the misfortunes from the previous year that must be burned away before the new year begins.
The idea behind the Old Man is that many people regard the New Year as a newborn, born on January 1, who grows up and leaves at the end of the year, carrying the weight of the previous year. The symbolic burning of the old man represents the cycle of death and birth, the passage of time, and of the old and new.
While I haven’t been able to uncover much information on how or why this symbolic custom began in Goa, there’s reason to believe that this tradition could have crept in when it was a Portuguese colony. In fact, in strikingly similar practises in places like Colombia, New Mexico, Puerto Rico, and Cuba, “Mr. Old Year” or “Old Man Gloom,” an embodiment of the year gone by, is set ablaze in order to welcome the promising new year with a clean slate.
These effigies of old men come in all sizes, shapes and production quality. Some of them sport long beards and suits, others propped up on a chair in total Sussegad style, with a cigarette cockily sticking out of their mouth. Most of them have a bottle of alcohol in their hands, reminiscent of the typical village drunk.
Later, at midnight, to signal the end of the year and to vent their frustrations for the year gone by, these old men are set on fire. The ones stuffed with fireworks literally go out with a bang. A happy new year indeed!