Elephants, musicians, and a long procession; if you can picture this, you’ll know what we saw when we attended a temple festival!
Temple festivals celebrate the temple god. They happen all over Kerala once a year around late February, early March, and last for about 10 days.
The festival we went to was in the town of Palluruthy, Kerala. We started at a temple where we saw the elephants being decorated with their saddles, gold face pieces, and headdresses. They looked beautiful and colourful. Then we walked with the crowd in a procession to a local school field.
When we reached our destination, the three elephants stood in a line with a Pandit in front of them. The temple musicians gathered in a group and played their drums, cymbals, horns, and instruments which looked like clarinets.
At one point, the music got really loud with all the musicians playing, and two people on each elephant stood up! The people in front held religious symbols made out of yak fur and swung them around in time to the music. The people behind them held other religious items with small mirrors, designs, and peacock feathers. This went on for about half an hour and was really amazing to see. Another fun thing was the people on the elephants were taking pictures of us, while we were taking pictures of them!
After, we followed the procession back to the temple where a huge crowd was waiting. Then we were invited to the drumming session and fireworks which were happening that night, but we didn’t attend. The reception at our hotel had said we only needed one hour to watch the festival, but we were there for much longer!
The temple festival was so much fun and I love how it is celebrated, from the music, to the procession, to the elephants. I think this festival should be celebrated in Canada, but we might not be able to get the elephants for the year. 🙂
*NB We’ve seen elephants all over India, for example, at Elephantastic, the Amer fort in Jaipur, and the spice plantation in Goa. It is interesting to see how important the elephants are to the Hindu faith, and how much honour and respect is given to them.
Comments
8 responses to “Fabulous Temple Festival!”
This must have been a most unique experience. Were you the only Caucasian people there? It looked very loud and crowded. The Indian people have many celebrations. I have often wished that Canada had more.
Hi Herta,
We were the only Caucasian people in the procession, but there were some tourists in the crowd when we returned to the temple. Being a part of this celebration was a lot of fun!
Hi, Mikhaila, I found your posting so very interesting and the music instruments sure look different. The elephants are really magnificent animals, especially with all their finery. It was great to look at the photos along with your information. Very colourful. Do they have the same parade every day or are there different celebrations during the temple festival? The drum session must be really something. Thanks for all the new information. Hugs to all
Hello Oma,
I think there are different ways to celebrate the festival every day, but since there are many temples that do the same celebration, the parade wouldn’t be missed. I read about one temple festival which has 60 elephants in attendance! Wouldn’t want to be on the cleanup team the next day! 🙂
Hi Mik,
I’m so happy that you are enjoying all these wonderful experiences!!!!!I didn’t see many children and women in the crowd. Do they participate in other functions of this festival? Your commentary was superb and your pictures are outstanding! Love, Baba
Hi Baba,
There were women and children, but most of them were walking behind the elephants while we were walking in front with the musicians who were men. So they were in attendance, they just didn’t get in our pictures!
Another interesting blog Mikhaila, I always feel like I am right alongside you all, enjoying these amazing experiences. I wonder what the people who took pictures of you are thinking, would they ever guess you were on a round the world tour…..Travel safely, Love Teta Doreen xoxox
Hello Teta Doreen,
The temple festival was a lot of fun! I wish we could have something like that in Canada (maybe with a herd of moose)! 🙂