Kunissery

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Kunissery is a small village in the Palakkad district of Kerala state, southern India. It is 7 km from Alathur town. Kunissery's famous festival is Kummatti which is celebrated on the birthday of the goddess Pookulathi on the Punartham Star of Meenam.

[edit] Kummati festival

The Kummati festival is held at the Pookulangara Bhagavathy Temple, 7 km from Alathur which is 22 km from Palakkad town.

One of the attractions is Kanyar, a folk art practised by the Nair community of Kunissery.

On the day of the Kummatti festival ten caparisoned elephants participate in a procession. On the day before the Kummatti, the traditional folk art Kanyar is performed. Kanyarkali owes its origin to the practicing of martial arts in the region which was under the constant threat of attack from neighbouring Konganadu. An event during the performance of this celebration questions the people residing in the village who have assembled near the temple to defend the village. Only upon getting a positive answer can the celebrations proceed. If any one of the representatives are absent, then it denotes some disagreement and the celebrations are held up.

Dance and comedy were pitched in to add vigor and colour to these training practices. It combines the agile movements of martial arts (Kalaripayattu) with the rhythmic grace of folk dance. Kanyarkali is usually performed during March-April in temples as well as in places called Thara (ground), a venue for informal gatherings. The dance is accompanied by folk songs and percussion instruments.

Another performance is of an art form called "Ponnani Kali". Here, after many days of training under an "Aasan" (ആശാന്‍) meaning teacher, the villagers don the dress of such common folk as 'Panan' the pot maker,'Chakiliyan' the leather worker, 'Vannan' the washer man, 'Cheruman' the farm-hand. They are mostly the representatives of various castes. The origin of this is unknown and the reference to this as Ponnani Kali is curious. It might not have anything to do with Ponnani which is a town in the Calicut district. Apart from the famous "Kummaatti", the annual 'Aarat' coinciding with Dasara and the 12 yearly celebration of 'Valia Aarat' meaning Big Festival is noteworthy. Once every 32 years there is a joint festival called "Thalapoli" in which the people of Kunisseri whose worshipping deity "Pookulangara Bhagavathy" goes to meet her father "Pallavoorappan", that is Shiva, in the nearby village of Pallavoor.