ABOUT THIS BOOK

The two eighteenth-century texts translated here offer a rare glimpse into the creative lives of cloistered nuns in Asia, providing a valuable example of early modern "other voices" in a colonial context.

The Entrada de Bonifrate para Festa dos Reis, a shadow puppet play for the feast of the Kings, and the Cartepaço da Muzica, a songbook for the feast of St. John, showcase the imaginative minds of the nuns at the Indo-Portuguese Real Convento de Santa Mónica, Goa, India. Composed for private convent audiences, these texts blend Portuguese and Spanish baroque elements with local Goan traditions. The uncensored verses celebrate convent life, critique local social norms, and affirm the nuns’ community identity, exhibiting the Mónicas’ musical talents and literary sensibilities.

AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY

Daniel Michon, associate professor of religious studies at Claremont McKenna College, is the author of Archaeology and Religion in Early Northwest India: History, Theory, Practice and the editor and translator with D .A. Smith of To Serve God in Holy Freedom: The Brief Rebellion of the Nuns of the Royal Convent of Santa Mónica, Goa, India, 1731–1734. D. A. Smith has translated several Goan and Indo-Portuguese literary and historical works, including Orlando da Costa’s novel O Signo da Ira, the collected poetry of Laxmanrao Sardessai, Leonor Figueiredo’s biography of Sita Valles, and To Serve God in Holy Freedom: The Brief Rebellion of the Nuns of the Royal Convent of Santa Mónica, Goa, India, 1731–1734.

REVIEWS

"In Shadow Puppets, Songs, and Sacred Feasts, Daniel Michon and D. A. Smith present a bilingual edition and translation of two unique works, a puppet show and a choral program, composed and performed in the eighteenth century by the nuns of the Indo-Portuguese Convent of Santa Mónica in Goa, India. Michon and Smith have deftly interwoven the rich traditions of puppets in both early modern Portuguese and South Asian societies. Given the diverse nature of the body of nuns in Santa Mónica, a mix of these two parallel traditions is inevitable, and is discussed amply in the scholarly introduction. This is an important work: It is a delightful example of two cultures entwined, never intended for our eyes and ears but rather for internal consumption within the Convent. Here we are offered a revealing glimpse into the dynamics of daily life in the convent. And who doesn’t love puppets?"

— Timothy Coates, Professor Emeritus of History, College of Charleston

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Acknowledgments
Abbreviations
Illustrations
Introduction
The Other Voice
Historical Background and Analysis of the Manuscripts
The Real Convento de Santa Mónica and the Mónicas
Entrada de Bonifrate para Festa dos Reis
Cartepaço da Muzica
A Note on the Translations
Translations
Entrada de Bonifrate para Festa dos Reis
Cartepaço da Muzica
Appendices
1. Nuns Commemorated in Entrada de Bonifrate para Festa dos Reis
2. Nuns Commemorated in Cartepaço da Muzica
Bibliography
Index