Venita Gomes
Devotees, known as 'dhonds,' dressed in colourful attire sometimes smear themselves with colour and ashes; while others don garlands of 'mogras' on the day of the 'zatra'
The most interesting feature of this 'zatra', sometimes called 'Lairai dhondachi zatra', is the ‘fire-walkers,’ who run on burning coal
On the night of the 'zatra', thousands of 'dhonds' — men and women from all over Goa and the neighbourhood — walk unscathed on a bed of burning charcoal!
The Lairai Devi Temple in the village of Shirgao (Bicholim taluka) is the venue of the annual Lairai 'zatra'