Marava & Ramnad · Eastern Coastal Plains
Festivals
| Festival | When | What happens |
|---|---|---|
| Thai Amavasai and Aadi Amavasai bathing | January–February and July–August | New-moon bathing at Agni Theertham on the Rameswaram shore and at the nine stones at Devipattinam, followed by the sequence of twenty-two theerthams inside the Ramanathaswamy temple. These are the two heaviest single days in the region's calendar. |
| Maha Shivaratri at Rameswaram | February–March | Ten days of festival at the Ramanathaswamy temple with night-long worship, a temple car procession and the largest concentration of pilgrims the island sees. |
| Vinayaka Chaturthi at Pillaiyarpatti | August–September, over ten days | The clan temple's principal festival, with a chariot procession and a very large gathering of Nagarathar families returning from wherever they now live. |
| Nagarathar clan temple kumbabishekam cycle | On a twelve-year cycle at each of the nine temples | Reconsecration of a clan temple, funded and attended by the families attached to it. It is the occasion on which a dispersed community physically reassembles, and it drives a large part of the region's sweet and catering economy when it falls. |
| Erwadi kandoori | The urs of Ibrahim Shaheed, on the Islamic calendar | Flag hoisting, sandal-paste anointing and the distribution of cooked food at the dargah, with a substantial Hindu attendance alongside the Muslim one. |
| Arudra Darshan at Uthirakosamangai | Margazhi, December–January | The one night in the year the emerald Nataraja is uncovered, after which it is coated again in sandal paste for another twelve months. |
| Ayyanar kodai festivals | Chithirai to Aadi, April–August | Village guardian-deity festivals across the dry country, at which terracotta horses are installed at the shrine at the field edge, goats are offered, and villuppattu and karagattam run through the night. |
| Marudhu Pandiyar Guru Puja | 24 October | Observed at Kalaiyar Kovil and across Sivaganga on the anniversary of the hanging of the Marudhu brothers in 1801, with processions and public meetings. |
| Mandapam and Rameswaram fishing season observances | Around the annual fishing ban, April–June | Boat blessings, church and mosque feasts and the return of crews, timed around the annual trawling ban when the boats are drawn up and repaired on the beach. |
The festival calendar of Marava & Ramnad — what is celebrated, when it falls and what happens. (9)