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Saturday, 19 April 2014

Quirk Onam


Today is the 17 alphabet day ie. Q  The festival selected for today is Quirk Onam Fetival
The performers of quirk dance.


Quirk Onam, as its name suggests, is 'quirky' festival. It is celebrated on the fourth day of Onam, a festival of Keralites.It is a sort of tiger dance. In olden days, it was held throughout  Kerala, but now it is limited to  the town of Thrissur.  Only men take part in the tiger dance.  It requires a lot of time and patience to dress up the artists. The colors used are yellow, red, black and blue. The painting is done on the  body of the dancer. The paint takes time to dry up. Two or three coatings are required for the perfect look. It leads to itching and dryness of the body.Women do not take part in this dance. The men perform Pulikalli dance in the main market place of Thrissur. Pulikalli literally means' the play of the Tiger'' This  is the reason that tiger dance is performed.The accompaniments used are Udduku and Thakil. Udduku is a sort of drum and Thakil is barrel shaped instrument. In olden days mask was not used, but now ready made masks, artificial teeth and mushtaches are available. Many teams participate in this dance.  The best performers are given prizes.The Thrissur Municipal office gives grants to the perfomers to keep the practice  alive.  There is a festive spirit all around. The video of Pulikalli will give you an idea about the dance.
          

Pic courtesy Google
Video courtesy YouTube
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30 comments:

  1. Shesha Chaturvedi19 April 2014 at 00:14

    When do Kerelites celebrate this festival? Since I am planning to visit Kerela this year, I was wondering if I can be the part of any festival when I am there!!!

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    1. Unknown19 April 2014 at 12:58

      This festival is celebrated in August(fourth day of Onam) in Trissur

      Delete
  2. Doreen McGettigan19 April 2014 at 02:55

    I love that you posted the video. Wow. The costumes are amazing. I love your posts, I love learning about your country and its festivals.
    doreenmcgettigan.com

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    1. Unknown19 April 2014 at 13:00

      Thank you Doreen. I am glad that you like the festivals celebrated in India.

      Delete
  3. KParthasarathi19 April 2014 at 06:49

    We have this puli aattam in Tamil nadu too but it is on the wane.Kerala retains its old and traditional performing arts.These are essentially rural entertainments and may not catch the fancy of children of these times

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    1. Unknown19 April 2014 at 13:06

      Yes Kp ,these festivals maintain the ancient spirit . Trissur municipality gives financial support for this dance.

      Delete
  4. Jayanta19 April 2014 at 09:01

    I was completely unaware of this ritual and festivals... Thanks for sharing...This AtoZ challenge has helped me gain lot of knowledge on culture, festivities, places..

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    1. Unknown19 April 2014 at 13:08

      We are gaining a lot from this challenge.

      Delete
  5. Unknown19 April 2014 at 09:23

    Interesting. Really enjoyed seeing the video to bring your narration to life. ♥

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    1. Unknown19 April 2014 at 13:09

      Thank you Kathy. I am glad you liked it.

      Delete
  6. Beloo Mehra19 April 2014 at 10:38

    O how interesting! I didn't know anything about this. Now I should ask my Keralite neighbours more about it :) Thanks for this quirky post :)

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    1. Unknown19 April 2014 at 13:10

      Thank you Beloo. Happy that you liked it.

      Delete
  7. Suzy19 April 2014 at 14:39

    oh how cool. I had never heard of this. Thanks for sharing the video and I really like the picture you shared.

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  8. Swathi Shenoy19 April 2014 at 15:58

    though i have never heard of this quirk onam, i have seen the tiger dance once in mangalore :-) it was so much fun to watch :-)

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  9. Amrit Sinha19 April 2014 at 20:26

    Festivals and rituals are always a pleasure to attend :-)

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  10. Sreeja Praveen20 April 2014 at 14:23

    aaha :) Puli vanneeee puli :)
    I'm a thrissurian myself and a diehard pulikkali fan :D
    Swaraj round, the heart of Thrissur ( and incidentally one of the largest roundabouts in Asia ) is a sight to behold on this day !!!
    Jing jijing jing jing :D That's how the rhythm goes :D
    Thanks for highlighting this here, Ma'm :)

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    1. Unknown20 April 2014 at 16:52

      Sreeja I am happy to note that you are a fan of pulikalli. About ten years ago we were in Thrissur during this dance. It is really a spectacle worth seeing.

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  11. Vishal Bheeroo20 April 2014 at 21:14

    Thanks for sharing Ma'am. Your posts makes the varying colors of Indian Celebrations very alive and indeed, a quirky Onam:)

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  12. the little princess21 April 2014 at 11:40

    that's interesting!

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  13. Shilpa Garg21 April 2014 at 21:24

    This is so interesting! Read about this festival for the first time. Thanks for sharing, Ma'am :)

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  14. Reshma22 April 2014 at 05:44

    Interesting event, thanks Ushaji, I'm learning a lot about Indian festivals :)

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  15. Rajlakshmi24 April 2014 at 16:01

    wow the tiger dance looks really interesting. I didn;t know it was called Quirk Onam

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