{"id":4990,"date":"2023-04-05T11:51:58","date_gmt":"2023-04-05T06:21:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theshesaga.com\/?p=4990"},"modified":"2023-04-07T10:57:28","modified_gmt":"2023-04-07T05:27:28","slug":"thiruvathira-experience-the-vibrant-malayali-festival-celebrating-sisterhood","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theshesaga.com\/2023\/04\/05\/thiruvathira-experience-the-vibrant-malayali-festival-celebrating-sisterhood\/","title":{"rendered":"Experience Thiruvathira; A Vibrant Malayali Festival Celebrating Sisterhood"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Come January, and we Malayalis welcome the auspicious festival of Thiruvathira<\/em>. Thiruvathira is the name of a Nakshatra<\/em> or star in the Malayali calendar. The day marked with this Nakshatra, in Dhanu Maasam<\/em> (December-January Month) is celebrated as Thiruvathira. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A woman-centric festival<\/mark><\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

The reason why I am fond of this festival, in particular, is that it is purely a woman-centric festival.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This day is special because it\u2019s believed that, on Thiruvathira, Lord Shiva accepted Goddess Parvathi as his Saha Dharmini<\/em> (equal partner) and together they formed the Ardha Narishwara Rupam<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Coming to the part of the celebration, unmarried women observe Thiruvathira so that they may be blessed with a spouse, who is equal and compatible. Married women observe it for their husband\u2019s long life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For me, the beauty of this day lies in the fact that it\u2019s pretty much about sisterhood. As I mentioned before, Thruvathira is \u2018Ladies\u2019 Special\u2019. In Kerala, women of all ages and classes, wake up early, bathe in the communal pond, dress up in new saris, wear their favourite gold ornaments, adorn their hair with jasmine garlands, and visit the nearest Shiva Temple together, to offer prayers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At home, they have fun the entire day. Swings are of major significance. Huge swings are tied to the trees in the orchards where women take rounds, swinging together and making merry.<\/p>\n\n\n

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KOOVA PAYASAM<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

Is this Malayali festival a version of Karvachauth?<\/mark><\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Why do I say it\u2019s the Malayali Karvachauth? Well, it\u2019s the fasting associated with Thiruvathira. It\u2019s not as stringent as the Karvachauth fast. From sunrise, women abstain from rice and rice-based food. Fruits can be consumed, but the highlight is a special dish called Puzhukku. Prepared from yam and other tuber vegetables, this dish is warm and spicy, with lavish glazing of coconut. Koova Payasam<\/em> (arrowroot and jaggery sweet) is served as dessert. On this day, it’s like a community kitchen, with women from all over the neighbourhood joining in, preparing dishes and relishing lunch together.<\/p>\n\n\n

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PUZHUKKU<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

The medley of rituals<\/mark><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

As twilight makes its way, a Nilavilakku<\/em> (auspicious lamp) is lit, and placed at the centre of a flower rangoli<\/em>. Women form a circle around the lamp and perform Kaikottikali, <\/em>the traditional dance of Kerala. You don\u2019t need to be specially trained for this, or be an expert. It\u2019s a fun ritual, where you just observe the other women and flow with the rhythm. The songs sung for the Kaikottikali are usually in praise of Lord Shiva and Parvathi.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Post the Kaikottikali<\/em>, or Thiruvathirakali<\/em> , the Sandhya<\/em> Pooja<\/em> is performed, which marks the end of fasting and festivities. The entire day as you see, is meant for women to bond. Their daily routine takes a back seat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thiruvathira is not restricted by lack of space in our modest Mumbai flat<\/mark><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Born and brought up in Mumbai, Thiruvathira was a little different for me. In our two BHK flat, there wasn\u2019t provision for a pond or swings or Kaikottikali<\/em>. And honestly, my mother hasn\u2019t been too keen on religion or traditions. We did visit the temple, but sans the so-called mandatory new clothes or gold jewellery. We prepared Puzhukku and Payasam, but never fasted. Mother didn\u2019t believe in staying hungry, and I have somehow imbibed the same. We weren\u2019t exactly the socializing types, so Thiruvathira was always a mild affair back home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Post marriage, I realized, a small apartment in Mumbai was good enough for not very elaborate but joyful celebrations. My husband\u2019s family enjoys a good social life, so Thiruvathira is fun and festive at my Sasural<\/em> (parents-in-law). I would go shopping for a new sari and matching accessories with my mother-in-law and sister-in-law. The night before, the aunts and cousins would come to stay. On Thiruvathira morning, all of us, eight to ten ladies would dress up, visit the temple, chat, laugh, cook, enjoy an afternoon of Antakshari <\/em>or other games, and wait for the evening, to dance to the Kaikottikali. Many of them would fast, but I was never forced to.<\/p>\n\n\n

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THIRUVATHIRA SWING<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

Continuing with the tradition, but differently…<\/mark><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

With my in-laws in Kerala now, and with most of my cousins all married and scattered, I spend Thiruvathira alone. It happens to be a working day for all as well. But then I try to embrace what I learned from both my mothers. So I offer prayers for my family, deck up, drape a new sari, go to work, and return home in the evening to light the lamp and sing Shiva- Parvati hymns. I don\u2019t enjoy cooking and I don\u2019t fast either. So I feast, as we order a Sadhya<\/em>(Malayali feast) from the local Kerala restaurant for dinner.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

After all, Thiruvathira is a celebration of womanhood, so I\u2019ve carved my own pattern of celebration, the one day that celebrates Me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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By<\/strong> Preethi Warrier<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Preethi Warrier has completed her Masters in Electronics Engineering and is an Assistant Professor. She is one among the winners of the TOI Write India Campaign Season-1, for the famous author Anita Nair. She can be contacted at : warrier.preethi@yahoo.com<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

How do we fit traditional festivals into our modern set-up? Preethi tells how she did that,<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":5013,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[47,133,48],"tags":[433,570,561,566,578,432,579,577,509],"views":428,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theshesaga.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4990"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theshesaga.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theshesaga.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theshesaga.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theshesaga.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4990"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/theshesaga.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4990\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5051,"href":"https:\/\/theshesaga.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4990\/revisions\/5051"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theshesaga.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5013"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theshesaga.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4990"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theshesaga.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4990"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theshesaga.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4990"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}