Navelim – Churches, History and Feast Days

Navelim brings together architectural history, architecture and feast days as distinct ways of exploring the history of the area. These include the Our Lady of Rosary Church and the Our Lady of Piety Chapel in Coldem, a locality within Navelim. In the wider travel destination of Salcete, other cultural sites add to the local perspective without sharing the same focus.

Church Architecture and Feast Days in Navelim

The current building of the Our Lady of Rosary Church in Navelim was built after the older building became too small. It has Portuguese influences and is whitewashed. The church was first built by the Jesuits in the 1590s. This means there are two building phases to distinguish: the original construction by the Jesuits and the current building, which replaced the predecessor that had become too small.

The Our Lady of Piety Chapel in Coldem is more than 350 years old. The Feast of Our Lady of Mercy is celebrated at the chapel on the last Sunday in October. A description published in 2019 gives the third Wednesday in November as the date of the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary in Navelim. The October date is for the chapel; the November date refers to the feast in Navelim. If you are planning your trip around either feast, check the date again before making specific plans.

Cultural Sites in the Wider Travel Destination of Salcete

In the wider travel destination of Salcete, the Goa Chitra Ethnographic Museum in Benaulim showcases Goa’s agricultural heritage, primarily through mostly old farming tools and equipment. The museum is set against the backdrop of an ecological farm and conveys traditions of the past. It also aims to help visitors learn about traditional indigenous implements. Unlike Navelim’s focus on churches and feasts, the museum centers on agricultural objects and traditions.

The Margao Cultural Walk explores Margao on foot. In Margao, Ana Fonte Garden features oriental-style footbridges and fountains. This places exploring the city on foot alongside the distinctive design of a garden as separate cultural themes.

The Rachol Seminary is located right next to the banks of the Zuari River. It was built between 1574 and 1610 and is a center for the study of philosophy and theology. Rachol Fort was built by the Bahmani Sultanate and later fell to the Vijayanagar kings after a lengthy, bloody battle. Today, primarily a ruin remains: this includes an archway over the road to Rachol Seminary and a dried-up moat around the seminary hill.

The local churches and feasts thus differ from the themes of the wider Salcete area, where cultural highlights range from agricultural implements to Margao and the architectural and scholarly history of Rachol. This lets you see Navelim as a destination with its own church and feast traditions while also taking Salcete’s other cultural themes into account.

Discover more destinations: Dabolim, Velsao, Mormugao, Colva, Utorda, Curtorim, Arossim, Mollem

View the wider travel overview: South Goa.