The unique Pooram Festival is the grandest festival of the South. Held in April/May, the festival was begun by Sakthan Thampuram, the king of the former state of Kochi. The celebration includes a variegated colorful procession and brightly decorated elephants. The spread out Thekkinkadu Maidan near to the entrance of Vaddakunathan Kshetram is the venue for this.
The two main participants, Thiruvambady and Paramekkavu temples, send their elephants to the Pooram with new and costly ornaments. The elephants are adorned with multiple jewelry, comprising of the "Kolam", a gold-covered crest for the top portion of the elephant. The "nettippattam", a large cloth with 600 gold-plated pieces, is placed on the elephant's forehead. There are "kuda", embroidered umbrellas for elephants and "alavattom", the colorful fan. Also present is "venchamaram", another type of fan and many silver bells.
Millions of people flock to this mammoth festival. At six o'clock in the morning the Thiruambady head priest comes out of the sanctum carrying a small thidambu, a symbolic image of the goddess. He places the idol on a specially bedecked elephant. The elephants are preceded by the divine panchavadyam (five musical instruments). Subsequently, similar rituals take place in the other temples. The processions terminate at the Vaddakunathan temple. Families line the routes to make offerings to the passing deities. On the first day, the various deities arrive at the great pipal (Ficus religiosa) tree outside the Vaddakunathan temple and then disperse. The exception is the Thiruvambady party, which lines up with its 15 elephants. Their panchavadyam ebbs and a new set of musicians start to play a melam. In this symphony, the chief instrument is Kerala's fantastic drum, the chenda.
The Paramekkavu temple initiates its ritual at 12:30 p.m. They assemble their 15 elephants and do a rehearsal of the major "kudamattom", slotted for the evening. Ultimately, the Paramekkavu party reaches the compound of the Vaddakunathan temple. During the next two hours, both men and gods are treated to a musical feast-the Elajithara melam. After Elanjithara melam, Paramekkavu and Thiruvambady come out and the stage then is set for the energizing "Kudamattom", where the two have a friendly competition, each trying to outdo the other in quality and quantity.
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