The festival is a memoir to the protest done by the local villagers against Portuguese, when they tried to resolve the ownership issue of the land.
The Bonderam festival is celebrated on fourth saturday of August.
12 Km from Panajim, in Divar islands, the Bonderam festival is observed on 4th saturday of August. The festival is a memoir to the dispute among the villagers and the fury over the Portuguese system of resolving the disputes. There is an intresting story around it. The villagers from various villages on the Divar island often indulged in some kind of fight over the matter of ownership of the land. Portuguese has a solution and they put up flags on the boundaries to mark the lines. The villagers were now unable to capture the land of the nearby villages. The villagers were annoyed at this and used to throw stones on the flags to show there protest against this new system.
The festival is celebrated to comemorate the protest shown by the villagers to the Portuguese. Stones were thrown and weapons were used against the flags. On this day, the quaint land of Divar, away from the hustle and bustle of Panjim, overflows with excitement. A carnival ambience is created. Each section of the village has a float at the parade. Melodious music drift from the village to mainland Old Goa. At noon people begin trickling into the village. By the evening the trickle is a deluge. An expectant crowd assembles along either side of the main passage of the village. The tempo is set by lands and lasses wielding "fotashes" engaging themselves in mock battles. The gaily colored floats accompanied by colorfully dressed youngsters make a pretty picture.