Culture and Festivals of Kerala | Styles At Life

Culture and Festivals of Kerala:

The pride of India, the heaven on earth, as a personal opinion, there is no better place for a nice winter vacation than kerala and today we are going to dive into the golden cultures of this very state and splurge ourselves in their festivals. Confined between the western ghats and the Arabian sea, kerala is a land of awe with its sweet and sour spices and its natural greeneries. Being a religion-ethnicity tolerant state, kerala absorbs in itself a wide range of personalities and people and with them comes the greater part of the festivals.

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A beauty with brains, this state is therefore a hub for all tourist attraction and what is more compelling than experiencing one of their native festivals?

If your planning on a mid year visit to kerala be sure to catch the most famous festival prevailing around these seasons, a fun packed-one week and three more day- of excitement and exuberant. The Onam festival by the kerala natives. Being on exile, king Mahabali was allowed only once to return to his kingdom to check on his subjects and this once a year visit is know nas the onam. Even though it prolongs to 10 days, all of these days are fun packed and merry. Along with cultural programs like dance or song or maybe fairs, people devote themselves to delicious dishes and home decorations.

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But that’s not all since the following month, ie, December gears himself for another festival. The Thiruvathira festival. Celebrated by the women folk this festival relates around the birth of Lord Shiva and probably the demise of god of love, Kamadeva. The entire morning is devoted to worships and prayer offerings while the rest passes in merry making. The thiruvathirkkali a dance form dedicated specially to this event is also an integral part.

In January people gather in Sabarimala to celebrate the Makaravillakku festival which is the worship of lord Ayyappa. A large number of devotees from all around especially the southern regions flock to Sabarimala to witness and participate in this auspicious event.  the very next month the Aluva Sivarathri Festival is celebrated on the banks of river Periyar. Mythology says that Lord Shiva once consumed a barrel full of poison to save the world from utter destruction and to celebrate this very day people crowd around the river banks, staying up the night to read out holy books and once the vigil ends, the bali ritual is performed at dawn.

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Also in January kerala witnesses the Kerala village festival on the sands of the infamous Kovalam beach. This beach side fair is a great platform to showcase the local talent as handicrafts and handlooms and arts and architectures depicting cultures of kerala comes to live. All the crowds, the locals and the tourists gather together to celebrate this 10 day fair on the beach shores.

On the months of march or april the Thrissur Pooram festival takes place in Thrissur. The best elephants from all around kerala are gathered and decorated and ornamented and then this elephants are all led in a procession to Thissur. The magnificence or the rare scenario of all this elephants tail in tail, trunk in trunk traveling to their destination is a sight worth exploring . the Vishnu festival is also held around this month.

Since kerala caters to a wide variety of ethnicity and religion, the Easter, a prevalent Christian traditional festival is also widely celebrated. Just like dusshera for the hindus, this celebrates the rebirth of jesus portraying good over evil.

Then there are festivals like – Navaratri or the Islamic Chandanakudam Mahotsavam or the Pongal festival which are pompously celebrated as well. A colour full festive state where onecan colour himself in the native colors.

Images source: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.