Thrissur Pooram is the biggest and most colorful temple festival of Kerala. It is celebrated in Thrissur at Vadakkumnathan temple in the month of April where the regaining deity is Lord Shiva. Situated on a hillock right in the centre of the city, the temple attracts thousands of devotees from all over the land during the Pooram festival.
The two centuries old Thrissur Pooram Festivel of spectacular procession of elephants and thrilling percussion performances in a never ending succession is an 36 hours marathon event of incredible beauty. Different from the usual temple festival, Thrissoor Pooram is participated and conducted by people across all barriers of religion and caste.
Thrissur pooram has a history of more than 200 years. It is believed that Sakthan Thampuran the ruler of Cochin who unified the temples and began to celebrate Pooram as a mass festival. These temples are grouped into two. They are Thiruvambady and Paramekkavu. They are conducting the pooram festival every year.
On the final day there will be fireworks which attracts lakhs of people. The Paramekkavu and Thiruvambady stops their pooram for fire works at their pandals at 3 O' clock in the early morning. After the fire works, day pooram starts at 7.30 am and moves to Sreemoolasthanam with 15 elephants. Another thrilling experience with Pandy Melam and kudamattam concludes at 11.30 am.
Pooram originally denotes the star of the Malayalam month in which the festival is celebrated. It was on pooram days that temples in Central Kerala held their annual festivals. Pooram festival season begins in November and ends up to May. Although there are hundreds of pooram festivals in this season, the most important one is the Thrissur pooram which is celebrated on the Pooram Day of Medom Month of the Malayalam Calender (April to May)
