Dhalo

On cold winter nights, womenfolk from Goan villages gather on the scared ground called maand to celebrate the exclusive women's dance called the Dhalo.
 Dhalo is a popular folk dance form from Goa, India. The dance is performed by women and serves as  a  prayer of protection for their households.The songs on which this dance is performed are usually in Marathi or Konkani languages and are commonly religious or social in nature. It is conducted over a period of 1 week in the month of  Pousha at the onset winter. On the final day women dress up elaborately and draw caricatures of men.

Technique
 In this form of dance, 12-24 women dance together in to parallel rows facing each other and with interlocked arms.
The silvery sheen splashed by the full moon bounces off he leaves of the ancient banyan tree that stand like a guardian, protecting the Dhalo maand beneath. Under its thick green canopy, the women of the remote village of Chandel at the northern tip of Pernem Taluka are visibly excited.
Dressed in traditional sari, hair adorned with fragrant flowers, they stand in two rows  still while the opposite row approaches them chanting the Dhalo song and when within  arm's s reach, blow down in unison before retreating in reverse back to their original position.The other row reciprocates the same action repeating with with a chant and in turn blowing to them

Custom of Dhalo dance
Dhalo usually on the wednesday or on the sunday. Prior to the celebrations the women decorated the open space of the house and the temple with rangoli Women from the villages are also welcomed to participated in the dance However, widows do not take part in the dhalos. Women offer talli i.e rice, moog and jiggery which are cooked and served to those presents. The leader of the villages locally known as Manndkann invokes a saluation to the divinity, the Earth Mother and seeks her bleesings for the whole villages and the festivals rituals.