May 3, 2024
By Syamjith Palakkayam, Suresh P. and Geetha
Nilambur is one of the major tribal concentrated areas within the Malappuram district of Kerala. Seven tribal communities reside here and two out of them, the Kattuanaickan and Cholanaickan groups, are PVTG (Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups). The Malamuthan, Malappanickar, Paniyan, Aranadan and Kurumar groups are some of the other tribal communities that reside within Malappuram. Most of these communities depend on the forest for their livelihoods and still follow and practise many of their traditional systems today.
As part of these traditional systems, most of these communities hold festivals. Through the People and Nature Collective’s research in Nilambur, our team participated and documented some festivals in Nilambur. Here we would like to share our experience with others, as many of these festivals are at risk of disappearing, in some cases due to a lack of traditional knowledge of the present generation somewhere it is related to money etc. Studying and documenting these traditional practices allows us to amplify the needs and importance of community gatherings.
Our team documented several Paniya and Kattunaickan festivals within Nilambur. Here we are sharing some photo stories about the tribal fest that happened in the last few months back at Nilambur.
Chennanpotty village is a Paniya settlement situated in Pothukallu grama Panchayath, where there is a festival called Vellaattu. Vellattu is different from the Adiyanthiram festival, mentioned in the next paragraph. Vellaattu is performed in front of Paniya temples and so many komarams, otherwise known as the pujari or priest, conduct the rituals there. Vellattu is conducted by communities to pray for a better life and to receive more yield from their farms, especially from the paddy. At this time the komaram is covered in tattoos made from rice powder.
Some other festivals celebrated by the Paniya community are the Adiyanthirakkali, Aattu, and Kudamanikkod festivals. In Chaliyar Grama Panchayat, we documented one Adiyanthiram festival. Adiyanthiram is a Paniya ritual performed yearly once in their villages. A ritual for the soul, this is conducted once a year within Paniya villages on behalf of anyone who has passed away within the community. This ritual is conducted by the relatives of the deceased. At that time only one komaram performs or leads the rituals.
We also documented one Kattunaickan festival, called Aattam, at Pulimunda village of Karulai panchayat. Attam is one of the rituals performed by the Kattunaickan community of Nilambur. In this ritual, the Kattunaickans offer their prayers to their ancestors, and pray for a better life, health and livelihoods for their community. This is a seven day ritual, and once the ritual has commenced, it must continue for the next five years. Every member of the community takes part in this ritual. A feast is also served on these days to ritual participants.
The researchers used their mobile phones for capturing the festival stories and received consent from the community prior to documentation. In the future, the Nilambur PNC division plans to document whole festivals in detail, and to prepare a proposal for documenting and supporting the festivals in coming years.
