Attukal pongala

Attukal Pongala

Today is the concluding day of the famous Attukal Pongala festival of this year (2015) in Kerala (India). I have been witnessing the festival ever since my childhood days.
Attukal is name of the place where the famous temple is located and Pongala is the annual festival lasting 10 days. Millions of women participate from all over the state of Kerala in the concluding event of Pongala on the tenth day. This event has he reputation of  being the biggest single gathering of women to offer prayers that has entered the Guinness Book of Records.

Pongala

Though the festival lasts for 10 days, the final (tenth) day Pongala is the main event. Women from all over Kerala gather for the event with make shift arrangements for cooking the Pongala offering made of rice, jaggary and coconut.
The rituals of Pongala start at about 10AM when the temple priests announce it and ends in the afternoon when the priests spay the holy water over the pongala offerings to the deity.

The finale