Thrissur Pooram 2021: Date, history and significance of annual temple festival

Thrissur, Apr 23: The Thrissur Pooram is an annual temple festival that is held in Thrissur in Kerala. This temple festival is held is at the Vadakkunnathan (Shiva) Temple in Thrissur every year on Pooram Day. The significance of Pooram Day is when the moon rises with the Pooram star in the Malayalam Calendar month of Medam.

Thrissur Pooram 2021 Date

Thrissur Pooram is celebrated on April 23, 2021, at the Vadakkunnathan (Shiva) Temple in Thrissur. The Kerala government has decided to limit the Thrissur Pooram celebration this year keeping in consideration the rising coronavirus cases across the state. While the public will not be allowed to participate in the Thrissur Pooram 2021, the rituals of the festival will be conducted by the temple authorities.

History of Thrissur Pooram

The temple festival was started by Rama Varma Kunhjippilla Thampuran who was the Maharaja of Cochin (1790-1805). Before the Thrissur Pooram began, the largest festival in Kerala was the one-day Arattupuzha Pooram Festival held at Aarattupuzha.

According to reports, temples in and around Thrissur also participated in this festival. In 1978, there were a lot of rains and flooding and Thrissur temple people could not reach Arattupuzha on time, so they were not allowed to participate in the festival.

As a result, Sakthan Thampuran made the decision to unify the 10 temples situated around Vadakkunnathan Temple and organised the first-ever Thrissur Pooram festival. Temples and deities from all over Kerala were invited to Thrissur to pay obeisance to Lord Vadakkunnathan (Lord Siva), the presiding deity of the Vadakkunnathan Temple.

Significance and celebration

It can be seen that Thrissur Pooram is an important festival for the residents of Thrissur and surrounding areas. Every year, people from all over Kerala come to this festival to pray to Lord Shiva.

A huge procession is organised on this day with music and prayer. 50 elephants decorated with golden ornaments are also present in the procession. This year, the public processions have been limited and only temple rituals are going to be allowed, due to the rising cases of COVID-19 across all of Kerala.