Trivandrum - Festivals

Thiruvananthapuram being the capital of Kerala, has one or other religious, state or tourist festivals celebrated every now and then throughout the year. The Village Fair An entire village of the bygone days of rural Kerala is recreated with artisans, Nalukettu (traditional house), temple, astrologer etc., so that the visitors will be able to see and visualize how people of Kerala in those days went about their lives. The festival lasts for a week from 3rd January. The village is set near Kovalam with displays of cultural performances like kathakali, koodiyattam, kalaripayattu, theyyam etc. Food Festival The festival is conducted during the 2nd week of February. Specialized chefs stalls for each state. Spread through seven evenings, one can taste almost all types of delicacies of Indian cuisine from various regions of India. Those prepared are even sold. It will be worthwhile to have a go at the dishes from Kashmir to Kanyakumari. Nishagandhi Dance Festival The Tourism Development Corporation organises the dance festival. Leading artists of Bharatanatyam, Mohiniyattam, Kathak, Odissi, Modern ballet and other folk form will perform at the open-air theatre of Nishagandhi in the Kanakakunnu Palace compound. Admission is free and the festival usually is accompanied with music. Vetta and Arattu This festival is celebrated twice in a year, once in Oct.-Nov and other in March-April. Vetta represents Lord Vishnu hunting down the demon of evil in the forest. The next day afternoon the Arattu procession begins. Images of Lord Padmanabha, Lord Krishna and Lord Narasimha are carried to the Arabian Sea at Sangumugham beach escorted by the members of the Royal Family. At sunset the images are ritually bathed in the sea. Returning the images in a procession back to the Padmanabhaswamy temple concludes the event. Several cultural programs including all-night Kathakali are performed during the festival. Attukal Pongala Attukal Pongala is celebrated between 18-26 of February, every year, at Attukal Bhagavati Temple. It is a ten-day festival. On the 9th day, thousands of women devotees from many parts of the state gather in the vicinities of the temple to prepare pongala, a favourite offering to the goddess. They prepare pongala by cooking jaggery, coconut and banana in certain proportions and offer to the goddess. The ritual starts early morning and ends by afternoon. The uniqueness of the festival is that only women are allowed to do the offerings on that day.