Thrikkarthika at Perunnai

We had celebrated the 'Karthika vilakku' at my home town. Children with great enthusiasam made the event more special and memorable. My home is very near to the Subrahmanya swami temple at Perunna. Here the 10 day festival starts with the Kathika vilakku. Every home will light up with lights and traditional clay pots. I feel so proud to be there to see a place celebrate the event with such a spirit.

Every celebration have a cleaning part. Roads have first session of cleaning. This time I had seen a machine to remove the weeds from the sides of the road. Earlier cleaning will start one week before karthika. Now the machine had replaced that phase of cleaning also. The next part of cleaning in houses every one will clean the yard and the hedges. There will be stand to place the earthen pots. This stand will be made by banana stem. We can see neighbours cleaning the road and firing the leaves with great enthusiasm. We can see fumes from every corner of the place which indicate the cleaning is on progress. Whenever the thought of Karithika evoke in my mind this fumes and the lighter moments with my nice neighbours have a role on that frame. Then comes the third phase of cleaning, lamps and vessels. 'Nilavilakku' as we call bronze lamps has a great part in this festival. There will be grand arrangement of nilavilakku in every home and in temple also.

'Kodiyettam' for utsavam is on this special day. The first picture is of payasam from the temple for the devotees on this special day. This is called 'Idichu pizhinja payasam' . This have a different taste than the usual ones.
This image is of 'Karthika puzhukku'. Its also a special of this day. Every home will prepare this Puzhukku which contain most of the local tubers like kachil, chembu, kappa and koorkka. I will try to post a detailed recipe on my food blog.

The last but not least was the lights. We had lighted that evening with lot of lights. The festival had begun there with a large flag swaying in the kodimaram.

Marotti plant

Marottil leaves.
Marotti maram pictures. Marottikka images. Fruits of Marotti tree. We had spotted this tree on our way to Anchuruli at Kattappana. We can see 'Marottikka' also.

Seeds of this tree contains oil. 'Marottikka thinna kakkaye pole' is a very famous saying in Malayalam. In my childhood we will cut the seeds and these are used as 'chirathu' instead of vessels made from clay on Thrikkarthika.
My father told me that marotti enna(marotti oil) and punna enna(punna oil) were used to light lamps (vilakku) in those days. marotti pinnakku was used as manure for coconut trees and it was a good pest repallant too. 'Kan mazhi' was prepared by lighting the lamp in marotti oil in those days.

Botanical name: Hydnocarpus Pentandra Oken

Malayalam:Marotti

English name:Chaulmoogra

A belief exists about this plant is that its presence indicates water in the soil. Its oil is considered to be the most auspicious among tribals. Oil is a medicine to leprosy. Oil is also used for making soap.