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Kannur: a night of Theyyam

We'd learned about Theyyam, a ritualized dance form that worhips heroes and ancestors, from the Lost with Purpose duo. They wrote of their night watching a Theyyam, and I was excited to see one myself. From a Theyyam website almost entirely in Malayalam, I'd deduced with some help that there was a Pottan Theyyam happening in Varam, which focus is on treating all people equal regardless of social class. To do so, Lord Shiva helps a man understand he isn't being socially correct by pretending to be someone of a lower caste to test the man's reaction. Let's just say he was initially rude, but then realized his error and Lord Shiva appeared to affirm his commitment to social equality.

6:30pm: After spending an unexpected night in Kochi, we made it to Kannur around last night. We'd traveled unreserved and found seats in Chair class where I slept and listened to podcasts. It was spacious until Kozhikode where the train became packed - I'm guessing because another train was delayed or broken - as streams of people got on from both the track and platform side.

7pm: Right by the railway station is MRA, a chain bakery and restaurant that brings together the culinary heritage of the region including Arabic, Portuguese and Dutch influences. We asked for the Malabar specialties and got a mild coconut sauce veg and spicy pepper chicken along with 2 pineapple mint juices. We also unsuccessfully tried to order cubes of plain dry chicken and ended up with a huge plate of legs.

7:30pm: After we visited the Indian coffee house, where the waiters wore hats reminiscent of the colonial times for a glass of milky, sugary coffee to keep us going through a potentially long night.
Then it was off into the unknown. 
The auto driver wanted to charge us there and back and we negotiated the price from Rs. 400 down to Rs. 200.

8:30pm: There were people streaming into the temple, so that was a good sign that something was happening. We wandered around for a bit, checking out the various buildings and causing a stir as we appeared to be the only foreigners in attendance. At first we wondered if we'd come too early as there didn't appear to be much going on, but after some time we saw some of the intricacies. There were a bunch of people seated looking onto a open area and others lined up to receive a blessing from one of 4 gods (or that is at least what I think was going on). The mix of the masculinity of the costumes and femininity of the makeup was interesting to see.


9pm: We watched as one man received his makeup of a bright orange face, black eyes and some patterns of white near the ears. The makeup and costumes are out of this world.


Nearby men were cutting palm fronds that would become part of the costume. The attention to detail was spectacular. 


9:30pm: While watching one of the guts in costume, a man started a conversation, explaining some of what was going on.  For a long while a man with a small red hedress stood in front of the temple, banging steadily on a drum and singing in a high toned, sad sounding voice. A man explained that he was telling the story of his life, which explained why he went on for a while. It was mesmerizing.
I also got in line to meet one of the gods as the man said it was fine. I held out a Rs. 10 note as the others were doing and received some orange powder (tumeric). The man asked if I had a question and I asked what type of question. He said, I should ask for something I want and first thing that came to my head was world peace. He translated that to the God who said something in return. The man said the god had requested this for me and said I could put the tumeric on top of my head.



9:30pm: The kids were super curious and extremely shy. They got the courage to ask questions, one at a time, but at first would run away as or just after I answered.
- what is your name?
- what is your country?
- what is your age?
- what is your favorite food?
- do you anticipate to eat some vegetables?
- what is your favorite drink?
- who is your favorite actor?
- who is your favorite Tamil actor?
- can you sing a song? .... Jingle bells?



10:40pm: The man who'd we watched getting makeup before suddenly appeared next to us and with some strong eye language signaled that we should move... quickly!!!!! He danced for a while if the steps into the temple area and specifically on a square part that wasn't much wider than his feet. He would spin and I wondered how he didn't fall off. He also ran out towards the crowd of people and they jumped up to stand before him. More spinning, more jumping, more throwing rice and giving blessed rice to people. It was a fascinating frenzy of activity. Then arrived a parade of woman carrying umbrellas and girls with plates of puffed rice and fruits. We had seen these gals when we arrived and they were very excited that we were still here to watch. They circled the temples several times and then the more cartoon looking Gods took the limelight and bopped around for a bit. This part felt a bit gimmicky to me. Then this section was over.






12am: We wondered if we should stay or go as from what we could tell the "main" dance would be at 5 am. We both were curioys, but tired, so we found a spot to lie down and I got some shut eye.

3am: Awoke to see that the bonfires were built and the last was nearly complete. This was more or less the process. The spot was blessed by throwing rice and water and some other actions. Then there was an inner core made from the trunks, which had been chopped into small chunks and a tower built like a log house. Then a burning palm was lowered into the log house tower with some white thing and this was surrounded by human sized logs into a teepee shape. These are the largest bonfires I think I will ever see in my life.


During this time.e things were fairly quiet. Many were sleeping and others resting.


4:30am: I awoke to see the most spectacular costumes of the night and scurried over to see what was happening. Two men with the help of others were twirling and bowing and circling the temples. The costumes were awesomely ornate completed with a halo of peacock feathers.


5am: Feeling a bit hungry, we head up to where the cooking had been taking place the night before. In both Malayalam and Hindi and then English we are asked if we want food and provided with a plate of rice, sambar, mild veggies, and sour curd. The size of the pits being used and amount of veggies being chopped was impressive.


6:30am: Barely able to keep our eyes open, we witness another dance. This one features a young dancer, with strong stage presence, and a man in grass skirts. They danced and threw rice. The boy barrel rolled and cartwheeled around and at one point rushed towards the crowd causing atbevspectators to quickly jump to their feet. I'm guessing in respect, but there were some looks of fear. Then they put on hedresses that were twice their height and continued to dance and spin, followed by stilt walking. 





7:30am: There was more to come, but we decided to make our way towards a bed. We marveled at how throughout the night there was always something going on and not always someone witnessing it. However we noticed that the same care and respect was still put into each act.

9am: We made our way to Waves beach resort where a very friendly husband wife team greeted us and ushered us into a cottage in minutes. It's a bit pricey for us at Rs. 3300, but includes 3 meals a day and we were exhausted.

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