Shadow Puppets, Songs, and Sacred Feasts: Volume 110

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 Cartepaco 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 Monica, 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 Monicas' musical talents and literary sensibilities.