Goans seems to thrive on festivities. In a year approximately 9 months are devoted to celebrations - mostly woven around religious occasions.

February is carnival time at Goa. For three days and nights, the legendary king Momo takes over the state and the streets come alive with colour. Momo is the king of Chaos and is elected to preside over the three-day festivities.

Visitors come from all over India and abroad. Street plays, songs and dances are performed before an enthusiastic, responsive audience. Floats depicting popular themes are taken out in procession. Cultural functions and competitions abound in the three days of revelry. Carnival of Goa has no religious undertones and has come to be a cultural highlight of the state, rather than of the religion.

The weeklong event is a time of festivity. The Goa Carnival, celebrated on the three days just before Lent, is an integral part of the Portuguese heritage of the state that was a dominion of Portugal till 1961. The carnival epitomizes fun-loving culture, characteristic to Goa.