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Festivals
God’s Own Country, Kerala is renowned for its colourful festivals. Festivals are an integral part of the social and cultural structure and every community, every religion has something to celebrate about all through out the year. Kerala wakes up to some festival or the other every day of the year.
Boat Races:
On the great backwaters of Kerala, fierce Vallom Kallies (boat races) and water carnivals erupt every year in a dramatic spectacle and hold tens of thousands of people spell-bound, cheering the action, laying bets, goading the boatmen to row faster. The water carnivals and snake boat races herald the week of the great harvest festival of Onam. It is Kerala's most important celebration and in scores of villages spread across central Kerala, competitive races featuring the smaller churulans, oadis, and irrutukuthies provide expression to the spirit of an intrepid, athletic
people, born and bread near water. Of these the Nehru Trophy Boat race is the most famous that take place in Alappuzha Backwaters.
Onam:
The Keralites celebrate this festival in memory of the golden era of King Mahabali whose spirit is said to visit the state at the time of Onam. Colorful aquatic festivals are organized along the sacred River Pampa as a part of the Onam celebrations. After three months of heavy rains, the sky becomes a clear blue and the forests a deep green. The brooks and streams come alive, spouting a gentle white foam, the lakes and rivers overflow and lotuses and lilies are in full bloom as if to welcome the spirit of the King. It is time to reap the harvest, to celebrate and to rejoice.
Depending on the positioning of the stars and the moon, the festival is held at the end of August or beginning of September, less than a fortnight after the Malayalam New Year, Chingam begins. The biggest festival of Kerala, Onam is also the best time to plan one's travel and tour in Kerala. The color, enthusiasm and celebrations associated with Onam are enough to make you return again.
celebrations begin within a fortnight of the Malayalam New Year and go on for ten days. The last day called the Thiruonam is the most important. All over the state, rituals along with new clothes, traditional cuisine, dance and music mark this harvest festival.
Vishu :
Vishu falls on the first of Medam (March-April), which is the Malayalam New Year's Day. Since it is considered propitious to view good things on this day for year round good fortune, Vishu morning is an important time. The heart of this festival of Kerala is the preparation of the kani which means lucky sight /gift
The custom of preparing the kani has been followed for generations. The women take a large dish made of bell-metal (uruli), arrange in it a grantha (palm-leaf manuscript), a gold ornament, a new cloth, some flowers from the Konna Tree
(Cassia fistula), some coins in a silver cup, a split coconut, a cucumber, some mangoes and a jack-fruit. On either side of the dish are placed two burning lamps with a chair facing it. Family members are taken blindfolded and then their blindfolds are removed and they view the Vishu Kani. As in other Indian festivals, a great feast at home is the high point of celebrating Vishu in Kerala.
Thrissur Pooram :
The most spectacular festival of Kerala that tourist must experience during their holidays in Kerala. Introduced by the Maharaja of erstwhile Kochi state, Sakthan Thampuran, Thrissur Pooram is celebrated in Medom (April-May). The Thrissur Pooram festival in Kerala parades the fulgent faces of Kerala culture. With every passing year Thrissur Pooram, the temple festival, attracts large masses of devotees and spectators to Kerala. Of the groups displaying their artistic prowess in the Pooram, the prominent are Paramekkavu and Thiruvambadi. These temples organize impressive,
awe-inspiring processions starting from Krishna Temple and Devi Temple. On the day before the closing of the pooram the groups enter the Vadakumnatha Temple through the western gate and come out through the southern gate to parade, face to face. Caparisoned elephants and the exchange of parasols
Are indeed feast to the eyes .The hours-long dazzling fire works submerge the Thrissur city of Kerala in an ocean of colours. The marvelous as well as magical effect of the Panchavadyam, a combination of five percussion and wind instruments, is a sight that tourist on vacations in Kerala will cherish for a lifetime. Although this grand festival is known as Thrissur Pooram, it is in fact the conclusion of the eight-day Utsavam of nine temples.
Christmas Festival:
With a large number of Christian population in Kerala, Christmas is a festival that is celebrated with much vigour and enthusiasm in the state. Easter is also an important festival in the state. The numerous churches that are spread across the state brighten up around this time.
Theyyam Festival:
Theyyam is one of the popular festivals of Kerala. It is the worship of the deity; on the other hand, the dancer is also the deity. Theyyam celebrates primarily the Mother Goddess. Animals, serpents and trees also figure in worship.
Eid & Muharram :
These festivals of the Muslim community are celebrated with great pomp and show…. on this day they exchange sweets and greetings and indeed it’s a scene of national integration.
Attukal Pongala Festival
Attukal Pongala this is the one and the only temple festival in the world where lakhs of women assembled together to make offerings by cooking a pudding for the goddess in the Attukal temple. It is taken home after the chief priest of the temple will come and sprinkle the holy water and will shower the flowers. This festival will come to an end in the evening with a procession from the temple
Makaravillakku at Sabarimala Festival:
For centuries, Sabarimala in Pathanamthitta has been a major pilgrim centre in Kerala attracting lakhs of devotees from all over India, more so from the southern states. The presiding deity is Lord Ayyappa known as Dharma Sastha, a considered symbol of unity between Vaishnavites and Saivites