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Intricate patterns being painted on an artist's face. This man isn't a Theyyam till he is in his full attire |
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Artist in the process of becoming Pulimaran |
It was Theyyams we were excited about when we were in Kerala in December 2014. We happened to be at Kannur at the right time. And if you are there close to Theyyam festival, make sure you pay them a visit. It will be worth it. The fact that two years later, I am writing a time-turner post about the entire festival from memory is an indication of how impactful it is.
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Priests chanting stories of Theyyams |
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Pulimaran performing in the temple complex |
If you think that the Theyyams came in soon after the chanting began, you cannot be more wrong. They made us wait, those Theyyams. They made us wait for what seemed like hours. But when they did come in, it was nothing short of magical. Their feet danced to the percussions and they looked magnificient with their grand headdresses and the otherworldly makeup.
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A Theyyam blessing the priests. These performers are considered as God themselves once they don the Theyyam costume |
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Pulimaran distributing Prasadam |
Another memory I still carry of that day is oranges. We were there almost the entire day and were very hungry. Only a couple of hawkers were in sight and we bought a dozen oranges and ate them through the day. They were tiny oranges, but were incredibly sweet. Around the evening we discovered that the temple had organized community meals for everyone. We wanted to taste the meal, but the queue was huge. Some organizers however spotted us in the queue and gave us a back door entry. They probably noticed that we were ready to pass out because of humidity and hunger. I have no particular memories of the meal itself though.
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Anklets worn by Theyyams - these ornaments made a metallic sound when Theyyams danced to the percussion instruments. |
We headed back after that looking forward to another evening on the beach. While we were in the village, it felt like another world altogether and though we liked it there, we wanted to be back in the world we recognized. Today when I think of it, while the Theyyam experience was memorable, I probably won't go out of my way to watch it again because of the sheer torture of sitting in the humid heat without any shelter. But everyone should experience it once at least.
If you liked this post and found it helpful, I would request you to follow these things when traveling -
1. Manage your waste well and don’t litter Use dustbins.
2. Tell us if you went to a place and found it hard to locate a dustbin.
3. Avoid bottle waters in hills. Usually you get clean water in hills and water bottles create lot of mess in our ecosystem.
4. Say big no to plastic and avoid those unhealthy snacks packed in plastic bags. Rather buy fruits.
5. Don't play loud blaring music in forests of jungle camps. You are a guest in that ecosystem and disturbing the locals (humans and animals) is not polite