South India owns the heart of every travel enthusiast because of its vibrant cultures, traditions, festivals, and most importantly its natural beauty. South India covers a beautiful landscape including backwaters, greenery, tea plantation, hillscape, etc. Natural as well as the cultural beauty of South India makes it one of the most popular destinations of travelers. Where Kerala entices you with its stunning and mesmerizing beauty, there, on the other hand, Tamil Nadu fascinated you with its vibrant cultures and traditions. Many festivals of South India are celebrated utmost zeal and enthusiasm but few are the most popular ones that bear a deep cultural meaning behind its celebration. Let’s take a look at the 5 most popular festivals of South India for enjoying in your South India holidays.
Onam marks the end of monsoon season –
Onam is celebrated during the harvesting season that falls in the month of Chingam according to the Malayalam calendar. The festival unites people from all the religions and castes to celebrate the harvesting month with zeal and enthusiasm. The legend behind this festival is Mahabali the mythical king. Onam festival lasts for 10 days, however, the first and last days are the most important during the entire festival. Various traditional dance performances are delivered during the celebration like Kaikotti Kali or Thiruvathia Kali.
Pongal marks a special harvest season –
The festival is celebrated on 14th January every year in Tamil Nadu. According to Tamil culture when milk is boiled over from a clay pot signifies the prosperity in the household. However, during this festival people prepare different sweet dishes along with boiled rice in milk which is offered to the Sun God. Many people celebrate the festival for a day while actually, this festival lasts for 4 days according to rituals.
Ugadi celebrates the New Year in Andhra Pradesh –
Ugadi festival marks as the beginning of the Hindu lunar year according to the lunar calendar. The festival is mainly celebrated in Andhra Pradesh but other parts of the country also celebrate this festival but denote it with different names. Ugadi Pachadi is one of a special food item which is a kind of extraordinary chutney cooked to celebrate the New Year. The true essence of this festival and households prepare special dishes and eat together to celebrate this festival.
Mysore Dasara embarks the victory of truth over evil –
Mysore Dasara is an annual festival that lies in the month of September to October. It is a festival of 9 days that is celebrated all over the country in the name of Dusshera. The Mysore palace is decorated with more than 1, 00,000 lighting bulbs for the festival. Many grand processions take place in the festival of the royal deity of Goddess Chamundeshwari.
Chithirai Thiruvizha re-enacts the wedding of Lord Shiva and Goddess Meenakshi –
Chithirai Thiruvizha is the festival celebrated in the month of Chitra as per the Tamil calendar which usually lies in the month of April. Initial 15 days of this festival is devoted to the worship of Goddess Meenakshi a re-embodiment of Goddess Parvati and the remaining 15 days are devoted to the worship of Alagar a re-embodiment of Lord Vishnu.
All the above-mentioned festivals offer’s vivid experiences into the vibrant cultures of South India. Experiencing the spirituality and rituals of these festivals is the best thing you can enjoy in South India. South India Tour Package is highly recommended during the festivals just to experience the rituals and customs of South India. Yet it may get overcrowded but the enthusiasm of those festivals cannot be found anywhere else which will surely mean a lot to you.
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