A festive mood gripped the city on Sunday (March 1, 2026), as the clock wound down to the Attukal Pongala festival on Tuesday (March 3).
Labelled as among the largest religious congregations of women in the country, thousands of families across Kerala and also neighbouring States are trickling into a six-km radius of the famed Attukal Devi Temple to offer a sacrament of rice and jaggery cooked on hastily assembled open hearths.
Customarily, residents and places of worship, including mosques and churches, open their doors to devotees to allow them to bivouac and prepare the sacrament.
Hundreds of devotees sleep rough on open ground prepared by residents’ associations. Many have reserved spaces in the festival area in advance to set up Pongala hearths. Business is brisk for vendors selling eathen pots, kindling and bricks for setting up open hearths. Several movie theatres have announced free screenings for devotees on Pongala eve.
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