Pune Malayalis to celebrate Makaravilakku in Ayyappa temples

PUNE: A host of events to celebrate Makaravilakku, an annual festival held on Makar Sankranti in Kerala at the shrine of Sabarimala, will be organized at Ayyappa temples across the city up to January 14.
Ranjan Babu, president of Sabarimala Seva Samajan (West Maharashtra), said, "While many celebrate the festival with religious rituals at the Ayyappa temple, various cultural programmes have also been organized to include locals and children."
"Around 9 to 10 Ayyappa temples in the city will be lavishly celebrating the festival," Babu told TOI.
Subramaniam Iyer, general secretary of Shree Ayyappa Dharma Pratishat, who manages the Shree Ayyappa Temple established at Rasta Peth in 1956, said, "We are the oldest Ayyappa temple in the city. Many people from far visit the temple at least once during the 45 days leading up to Makaravilakku."
"This year, there will be a range of cultural programmes where women, men and children from the Malayali community, as well as other communities, are invited to attend or participate. A popular troupe from Trivandrum will perform various folk dances from Kerala, as many of us Malayalis who were born and brought up in the city have not seen it yet," Iyer said.
He said, "About 80 children will put up a cultural show on Maharashtra. It will help to involve locals to be part of the temple activities and celebrations. The students from Poona Blind School will also perform a few devotional songs during the annual festival."
Iyer said, "A group of professional artists will play the Chenda Melam (traditional drums), and we will carry out the annual procession of Lord Ayyappa on the chariot in Rasta Peth and Somwar Peth. On January 14, there is a feast with Kerala specialities and Payasam. There will be prasadam for everyone."
Jyothi Anand, a resident of NIBM Road, said, "The festival is celebrated with great enthusiasm. Women and girls of the community don their traditional Kerala sarees, set a thali with a diya and other offerings for Lord Ayyappa."
"We will visit the chariot and be a part of the grand procession. It is wonderful to visit the Ayyappa temple in Wanowrie, which will be decorated with flowers and banana leaves," Anand said.
The celebration of Makaravilakku festival includes the Thiruvabharanam (sacred ornaments of Lord Ayyappa) procession and a congregation at Sabarimala. An estimated half a million devotees visit Sabarimala every year on this day.