On 07th of March 2023, we witnessed one of the largest women gathering in the World at Thiruvananthapuram city of Kerala in the celebration of Attukal Pongala. Attukal Pongala is a 10-day religious festival celebrated at the Attukal Bhagavathy Temple in Thiruvananthapuram in the Indian state of Kerala. On the ninth day there is a huge gathering of millions of women on the temple surroundings. These women prepare a divine food made of rice in earthen pots and offer it to the Attukal Amma (Goddess of the Temple). The pongala preparation starts with the ritual called 'Aduppuvettu'. This is the lighting of the pongala hearth (called Pandarayaduppu) placed inside the temple by the chief priest. This is the earliest Pongala festival in Kerala. The festival is marked as the largest annual gathering of women by the Guinness World Records. The ceremony was set up in Guinness Book of World Records on February 23, 1997, when 1.5 million women participated in Pongala. In 2009, a new Guinness World Records celebrated 2.5 million attendance.This temple is also known as the Sabarimala for women.
Though it is a Hindu festival, many Christian women in Kerala also offers Pongala to the Goddess.
11 мар 2023
