Nemmara, a small village in the Palakkad District of Kerala state, southern India is known far and wide for its โVelaโ festival known as NemmaraโVallangi Vela.
Venue : Nellikulangara Bhagavathy Temple
Nenmara Vallangi Vela is an annual festival of Kerala celebrated at Nellikulangara Bhagavathy temple in Palakkad village. Nenmara and Vallangi are two neighbouring villages in the district. In fact, this festival is a competition between these two villages. The festival begins with the traditional flag hoisting ceremony, called as Kodiyettam. Various art forms like Karivela, Kummatti and Andivelaare are staged during Nenmara Vallangi Vela. During the celebration, 30 caparisoned elephants line up in ritual magnificence under a decorated canopy. The Nenmara Vallangi Vela is the second important festival similar to Thrissur Pooram.
Nemmara Vela
This ancient festival that is much awaited by the people of Nemmara and Valanghi, the famous โNemmara Vallanghi velaโ, falls on the 20th day of โMeenamโ in the Malayalam month (2nd or 3rd of April, every year).
The arrival of Nemmara Vela brings a spirit of celebration and rejoicing to the region. Nemmara and Vallanghi compete to outdo each other in the pomp and show for the vela, which includes decorated elephant processions, instrumental music, and above all the grand fireworks display, which is unique to the Nemmara Valanghi vela. Nemmara and Vallanghi have their own temples for conducting the vela proceedings, but the Nellikkulangara temple, which is the main center for the vela proceedings, is common to both Nemmara and Vallanghi.
Here is a brief description of the Nemmara Valanghi Vela proceedings:
The formalities and preparation for the vela starts around 20 days earlier to the actual date of the vela. On the 1st of โMeenamโ the vela representatives and the elders of each desams (Nemmara desam and Vallanghi desam) meet at Nellikulangara and with the permission of all people one red silk cloth called โKuuraโ is tied on top of โKalamโ. โKalamโ is a drawing of the Bhagwathi made using colour powders. It is done by experts having years of experience in this. From that day โKalam Poojaโ and โKalam Paatuโ are performed .The songs in โKalam Paatuโ are for praising the Bhagwathi and telling her legendary story. The โKalam Poojaโ and โKalam Paatuโ continue for the next 21 days.
From the 9th of โMeenamโ starts the folk activity of โKummattiโ. This is conducted to resemble the gods of heaven supporting the Bhagwathi for killing the demon โDaarikanโ. โKummattiโ is made of bamboo and decorated with flowers of โAraliโ. These flowers are arranged in form of rings and then tied in the rows over the bamboo. โKanimangalamโ,โMananagoduโ,โPuthantharaโ and โVetaikorumakanโ are the four main groups who make their โKummatteesโ. These groups join at โVetaikorumakanโ temple and the โKummatteesโ are placed in front o the temple. Sometimes these โKummatteesโ are decorated with lights. Each group tries to out do the other in the number of rows of flowers in their โKummatteesโ. These folk activities continue for the next 9 days i.e. up to the 17th of โMeenamโ.
The next day starts the โKari Velaโ or the vela in black. This is done to resemble the โBhagwathiโ with Lord Shivaโs disciples called the โBhootha Ganaโ coming back victoriously after killing the demon .Each four groups start the โKari Velaโ from their respective places. They dance in front of all the Nair Tharavadu. By midnight these four groups meet in front of โVetaikorumakanโ temple. The next day i.e. on the 19th of โMeenamโ night, people celebrate the folk of โAndivelaโ. That night the sword and โChilambuโ of the Goddess is carried from โMannamโ to โVetaikorumakanโ Temple accompanied by three elephants and โMelamโ. The same night the auction for the elephants used in the vela is conducted. Lakhs of rupees are collected during the auction for the vela. One who gets to win the auction gets the...
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