Recreating The Magic Of Thiruvathira In Ireland

Thiruvathira

A divine traditional festival of Kerala.

The Magic Of Thiruvathira

Women dressed up in Kerala’s traditional wear of mundu and neriyathu, with their hair tied up in a bun adorned by jasmine flowers and chokers gracing their necks. Their eyes would be lined with kajal with bindi between their eye brows. They would also have anklets that makes beautiful music when dancing and light reflecting from the stones of their jimiki earrings.

Whenever I think about Thiruvathira, these are the images that comes to my mind.

What Is Thiruvathira?

Thiruvathira is a festival that is celebrated during the fifth Malayalam month, “Dhanu”. Thiruvathirakali is a mesmerising art choreographed and danced by women of all ages, for the empowerment of their own self, as well as their family.

Women observe fasting during the day of Thiruvathira. The belief behind is that, this sacrifice ensures the health and well being of their entire family.

History Of Thiruvathira In Kerala

There are many stories that are attached to history of Thiruvathira. One among them is about how ‘Goddess Parvathi’ performed intense tapasya for more than three thousand years to achieve her love, ‘Lord Shiva’.

To honour this beautiful act, while unmarried girls do fasting on the day of Thiruvathira for getting husbands of their dreams, married women does this for the long and healthy life of their husband.

Another one story shows the strength of prayers and devotion through the celebration of Thiruvathira. A girl who was a strict devout of ‘Goddess Parvathi’ was grief-stricken with the loss of her husband on her wedding day. She prayed to the ‘Goddess’ for the life of her husband, and ‘Goddess Parvathi’ along with ‘Lord Shiva’ brought him back to life.

Magic Of Thiruvathira Recreated In Ireland

Recently, I got a chance to be a part of a Thiruvathira organized by the SapthaSwara Institute of Performing Arts. The backbone behind this project was Bindu Raman Namboodiri and family. We formed a dedicated team of 19 ladies, and spent countless hours practicing this art form.

Thiruvathira-A Festival Of Kerala Recreated In Ireland — *The Team*

Our teacher, Bindu, who was more of a friend to us, taught us the various steps, with so much patience. Her idea was to re-create the magic of Thiruvathira along with it’s complete rituals.

Bindu Raman (in the middle)

The Idea Behind This Video Creation

Thiruvathira, once upon a time, was a common festival celebrated during the month of ‘Dhanu’, as this is the star or nakshatra of ‘Lord Shiva’. But nowadays, very few people celebrate it following the correct rituals. Many of us are do not know the reason behind this tradition and would find it difficult to explain it to our children.

So this video was created under the guidance of Bindu Raman and family under the banner of SapthaSwara Institute of Performing Arts. This is their first official video release, and they wanted it to be based on ‘Lord Shiva’, who is also known as ‘Natarajan’ or ‘divine cosmic dancer’.

Their idea behind this video is beautiful. The future generations should know, the story of Thiruvathira and how to celebrate it along with their complete rituals.

Locations Of The Video Recording

The major portions of the video of Thiruvathira was recorded in Dublin, Ireland. The pre Thiruvathira rituals of taking bath in a large pond before sunrise was recorded in Lucan Demesne Park. So was the entire outdoor shoot of Thiruvathirakali with our 19 members. We did a shooting of the Thiruvathirakali outdoor, as well as indoor for maintaining the aesthetic beauty of the art form.

The part of the video where they show the Dashapushpam or the ten sacred flowers of Kerala was recorded in Kerala because these flowers are available only there.

How Is The Thiruvathira Divided

Thiruvathirakali can be divided into 6 parts. Each of these parts comprises beautiful compositions.

Ganapathi – Aaneharan was the composition for this part.
Saraswathi– Padmapeetam was the composition for this part.
Padam – Venmathishekhara was the composition for this part.
Kinamkali – Pora pora nalil nalil was the composition for this part.
Kummi – Geervana naari was the composition for this part.
Mangalam – Shankaraya Shankaraya was the composition for this part.

The Team

A lot of effort has gone behind the creation of this Thiruvathirakali. A lot of people from Kerala had also helped Bindu Raman in making this video.

There were a total of 19 dancers, 9 singers and also live recording of 2 instruments- idakka and jalra, by the singers. There were 15 children holding thalams, plates with flowers and vilakku or lamp. The effort of around 100 people resulted in the creation of this Thiruvathirakali, from stage set up, costume, makeup, instrument, transportation, accessories to name a few.

Video

Mr. Vikas VKS, celebrity makeup artist, released the video of Thiruvathirakali on YouTube on December 20, 2021. This date was the festival day of Thiruvathira, and so was chosen as the day of release. This is the link of video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MaGBSlEMGr0

Summing Up

The magic of Thiruvathira was recreated in Ireland along with all the rituals. I was lucky that I had a chance to be a part of this wonderful team. A lot of care and love had gone into making this video. Everything was done with a single minded devotion to create something beautiful for the world to watch. Be it the accessories or the stage set up, the costume or makeup, anything and everything, there was so much love involved.

So that, anybody and everybody, can watch this and not just have a complete knowledge about Thiruvathira but also be mesmerized by how Ireland looks and feels just like home.