The Malabar Coast Adventure - 2 (Thalasherry, Kannur)


Malabar coast adventure continues. Day two early morning, after checking out from hotel, we decided to visit Kannur to see famous Theyyam. 

Theyyam is popular ritual form of worship of North Malabar in Kerala, India, predominant in the Kasargod, Kannur Districts, Wayanad and Kozhikode of Kerala, as a living cult with several thousand-year-old traditions, rituals and customs. Theyyam glorifies Goddess Kali. Theyyam or Theyyatam is derived from two Malayalam words “Deyvam” ( god ) and “Aattam” ( dance). The performers of Theyyam belong to the lower caste community, and have an important position in Theyyam. People of these districts consider Theyyam itself as a God and they seek blessings from this Theyyam. 

Theyyam dances are usually performed in the months of October to June. You can browse this site to know more about timing and place http://www.theyyamcalendar.com/

We were not sure, where we can see this, internet helped us and we got to know one place where Theyyam was getting performed. There was contact number as well, we called and the person told us timing and the direction of temple. We reached there exactly on time.

It was small temple but decorated beautifully. So many food stalls there and off course place was crowded. There was one open courtyard, for performance.The whole locality had gathered in and around the courtyard to watch the Theyyam. For many local its a time for coming together as family. We somehow managed to get inside the courtyard and took the blessing from Theyyam performers. All the performer adorn colourful costumes and heavy makeup and within 15 minutes Theyyam started.

I read about Theyyam in the book "Nine Lives" written by William Dalrymple and also wanted to see this beautiful tradition of Kerala. I would consider this as one of the highlight of my trip.




After watching Theyyam, we decided to  go back to Thalasherry and cover one beautiful Island we saw when we were going to Kannur.  Dharmadam island

Dharmadam is an island, en route Thalassery and Kannur. located 4 km from the town of Thalasherry. It is surrounded by the Anjarakandy river on three sides and by the Arabian sea on the fourth side.This place was simply brilliant and you will love the scenery there. It was not crowded and we felt so relaxing and calming.  






 
When you are in Kerala, how could you miss Toddy (mildly alcoholic beverage made from the sap of palm trees) and Tapioca. We found one small toddy shop near Dharmadam, had toddy, topioca and fish curry. Enough for all of us to keep going. It was 2pm and we started our journey back to Bangalore hoping that we will get some more hotels on the way for lunch.

It was end of exciting trip of God's own country. Talking about Kerala so far I have seen many tea gardens, water fall, beaches, river, forest, temples, good old traditions, rituals, absolutely delicious Kerala cuisine but the only thing missing in my list is experiencing back water of Kerala and houseboat. So my next destination will be places like Allepy, Kovalam. I dont think exploring Kerala will be complete until unless you miss these places. Hope to be there soon..

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