Snake Festival Of Malabar- Northern Kerala
From February 5th to February 10th 2011

Bhadrakali temple, a fierce form of the Mother Goddess. Set in a lovely spot overlooking the river estuary, the temple belongs to the Valans, a fishing community who migrated here from Cochin at the beginning of the twentieth century. Reconstructed some thirty years ago, the temple has a pleasant atmosphere and many colourful carvings depicting the major deities of the Hindu pantheon.

But it is with its festival each February that the place really comes alive. Women from local Valan families have the tradition of acting as spirit-mediums for Bhadrakali in her form as the Snake Goddess, who manifests each year to instruct and bless her worshippers

The whole community takes part in the festival, with processions and feasts and meetings in the temple. Beautiful sand paintings are constructed to honour the Goddess and invite her to appear, and pujas with solemn music and vocal accompaniment continue throughout the festival , principally in the early hours of the morning.

When the Goddess does eventually manifest, the possession of her mediums is a dramatic affair. With hair unkempt they dance and leap around the temple courtyard, one minute writhing like snakes along the ground, the next rushing unpredictably through the crowds, brandishing the huge ancestral swords that signify the power of the Goddess. Symbols of stability and order that have been set up are energetically destroyed, as the antics of the possessed women convey the teaching of universal impermanence, and all is in reality nothing but the unpredictable play of the Great Goddess.

Accommodation: Neeleshwar Hermitage ( 3kms), a delightful beach retreat, with 16 fishermen style cottages set in 12 acres of landscape garden, has beautiful infinity pool.
Suggested Programmes:
1, Mumbai/ Mudarai/ Munnar/ Takkedy/ Allepy/ Kochi/ Calicut/ Neeleshwar/ Manglore / Mumbai.
2, Kochi/ Allepy/ Calicut/ Wayanad/ Neeleshwar/ Coorge/ Kabani/ Hassan/ Mysore/ Banglore.


Note: This festival can be combined with the Sacred Dances of Thayyam in Northern Kerala.