Thrissur Pooram
| Year | Dates |
|---|---|
| 2023 | 1st May 2023 |
| 2024 | To be announced |
With a tradition of more than three centuries, Thrissur Pooram is considered as the mother of all festivals in India, especially in South India. In the Malayalam month of Medom (April-May), Thrissur Pooram is celebrated at the Vadakkumnathan temple in Thrissur town in the state of Kerala. Lakhs of people from all across the country, including foreign tourists, gather to celebrate this festival. One of the best-known festivals in Kerala, a tour to Kerala is a must to witness the spectacular celebrations of Thrissur Pooram, accompanied by sounds and lights, wonderful display of fireworks, the delicious delicacies, colourful decorations and most important of all, decorated majestic elephants are a lifetime experience.
Brief idea on Theyyam
Dances performed in the temple is an essential part of Kerala culture. Theyyam is a unique dance form of Kerala, an 800-year-old spectacular dance form, considered as the ritual dance of the Gods of India. It is a celebration of faith, devotion and divinity and celebrated with great enthusiasm every year in varied locations and varied dates. You will find an amalgamation of music, dance, drama and mime in this dance form. As per legends, it has its origin in the ancient Dravidian culture of South India. Theyyam dance is always accompanied by perfect harmony and orchestra of musical instruments like Chenda, Elathalam, Kurumkuzal and Veekkuchenda, which make the dance form all the more spectacular. The performers with their colourful costumes, gorgeous make-up and attractive masks are a treat to the eyes. There are more than 400 forms of Theyyam and each has its unique style, retelling a mythological story in a dance drama format.
Significance
On Thrissur Pooram, various temples are invited to the city of Thrissur to pay tributes to Lord Vadakkunnathan at the Vadakkunnathan temple. Hence, this festival is considered as a grand assemblage of Gods and Goddesses in and around Thrissur, a sight not to be missed in your lifetime. A festival tour to Kerala during Thrissur Pooram Festival is a lifetime experience. Thrissur Pooram Festival Date 2023 is from 1st May 2023.
History
Before the Thrissur Pooram celebration, just one festival was celebrated in Kerala by the name of Arattupuzha festival. This was celebrated at a temple close to Thrissur town, just 10 kilometers away from it. A one-day festival, in which most of the temples of Thrissur took part. In one such celebration, there was heavy rain, and as a result many nearby temples couldn’t take part. Few arrived late and they were not allowed to enter to take part in Arattapuzha festival. This enraged the officials of other temples and they informed Raja Rama Varma, also known as Sakthan Thampuran, the then ruler of Kochi. He immediately made provisions to organize another festival, which was more extravagant, more elaborate and celebrated in a much more grandeur scale as compared to the previous festival. This marked the beginning of the Thrissur Pooram festival and the grandeur of the festival continues even today. Hence, it is referred as the festival of all festivals, the largest of all festivals in Kerala.
Celebrations of the Thrissur Pooram Festival
The Thrissur Puram is a seven-day festival. It begins a week earlier, marked by the hoisting of the flag, thereby giving a warm welcome to all the participating temples in and around Thrissur.
Another tradition is followed where an elephant pushes open the south entrance gate of the Vadakkunnathan Temple, the venue for Thrissur Pooram. This is referred as Poora Vilambharam.
The pooram starts in the early morning. Local people and tourists start visiting the temple from early morning and the celebrations and puja continue till late night.
On the fourth day, there is a colourful display of fireworks, which is referred as Vedikettu or a sample firecrackers ceremony. This is basically a preparation and practice of bursting firecrackers and displaying fire works on the final day. This is highly appealing.
The sixth day is the main Pooram when thousands of devotees throng to the Vadakkunnathan Temple to pay obeisance to Lord Shiva, the presiding deity of the temple. The tradition of the priests of the other two visiting temples, Paramekkavu Bagavathi Temple and the Thiruvambadi Sri Krishna Temple, and their processions stand opposite each other continues even today.
These two temples compete with each other in the procession. Each temple brings with them a herd of elephants, beautifully adorned with jewellery and other adornments. Elephants play a major role in the Thrissur Pooram. They are decorated with nettipattam (decorative golden headdress), beautifully designed Kolam, decorative crafted bells, and ornaments. The richly caparisoned elephants are accompanied by the priests and mahouts of both the temples.
The colourful umbrellas, the fans, the drumbeats, traditional orchestra panchavadyam, and the loud cheers from the onlookers – the whole ambience look very gorgeous. The rhythmic changing of the attractive umbrellas called “kudamattom” is a sight not to be missed at all in your Thrissur Pooram Festival Tour. The changing umbrellas spectacle, is cheered by one and all, and this attracts the maximum crowd during the Thrissur Pooram festival in Thrissur, Kerala.
On the seventh day, which is the last day of the festival, there is another display of fireworks, which is much awaited by the locals and the tourists, and is referred as Pakal Vedikkettu. This takes place in early morning hours, held at Thekkinkadu Maidan of Thrissur. The fireworks display is which takes place in Thrissur is nothing short of phenomenol. Thiruvambadi Sri Krishna Temple and Paramekkavu Bagavathi Temple idols are taken back to their respective temples. A large number of people gather to witness this and pay their homage to Lord Shiva. This marks the end of the festival.
Thrissur Puram is one of the best-known festival tours in India. If you are planning to enjoy Thrissur Pooram, then book Kerala Tour packages with the best inbound tour operator of the country.
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