The Entrada de Bonifrate para a Festa dos Reis (The Arrival of the Puppets for the Feast of the Kings) is a puppet show composed in 1740 and most likely performed on 6 January 1741 (the Feast of the Kings, or Epiphany) by the Augustinian nuns cloistered at the Real Convento de Santa Mónica in Goa, India. The text contains an eclectic mix of comedic skits, dances, magic tricks, recipes, and ditties, all of which serve to frame the main event of the evening: the singing of praises to each nun living in the convent. The performance draws upon both the Indian tradition of shadow puppetry and the early modern Portuguese tradition of puppet opera. The concerns embedded within the text reflect the convent’s location in Goa, the administrative, ecclesiastic, and economic heart of the Portuguese Estado da Índia.

Daniel Michon is a professor of Religious Studies at Claremont McKenna College in Southern California. He published a series of studies centered on archaeology and religion in early historical northwest India. His turn to the colonial period emerged out of his first book, Archaeology and Religion in Early Northwest India: History, Theory, Practice, where he explored British interpretations of archaeological evidence, which led him to the Indo-Portuguese world. His most recent books, published with D. A. Smith, include To Serve God in Holy Freedom: The Brief Rebellion of the Nuns of the Royal Convent of Santa Mónica, Goa, India, 1731-1734 and Shadow Puppets, Songs, and Sacred Feasts.

Date: 9th January, 2026

Time: 6:00 PM onwards

Venue: Museum of Christian Art, Old Goa

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