The Perunnal Season: Kerala Church Feast Days Worth Traveling For

A perunnal is a Kerala parish feast day, and the big ones fill towns the way temple festivals do. Expect processions through the streets, decorated churches, fireworks at some parishes, music, and food served to anyone who turns up. The Kerala church perunnal season is spread across the year rather than concentrated, so there is almost always one happening somewhere.

If you have only seen temple festivals here, these are worth a trip. They are loud, public and open.

What a perunnal actually involves

The core is a feast day for the patron saint of a parish, usually running over several days. The common elements are:

• Services in the church, often with visiting clergy
• A procession carrying an image or relic through the parish, with umbrellas, banners and music
• Fireworks in the parishes that hold to that tradition, often late at night
• Food distributed at the church, sometimes in very large quantities
• Stalls and a temporary market around the church grounds

The mix varies. Some parishes are known for their procession. Some are known for fireworks. Some are known for the food. A programme that builds over several evenings is not unique to churches here either, and the ten nights of Chandanakudam at Beemapally work to a similar rhythm.

Feasts worth planning around

A few of the larger ones, spread across the year:

• Arthunkal, in Alappuzha district, holds its feast for St Sebastian in the early part of the year, drawing pilgrims who walk long distances to reach it
• Malayattoor, in Ernakulam district, centres on a hill climb and peaks in the Lent and Easter season
• Edappally, near Kochi, holds a large St George feast in the pre monsoon months
• Kuravilangad, in Kottayam district, is a long established Marian pilgrimage site with its own feast
• Manarcad, in Kottayam district, runs an eight day fast ending with the feast of the nativity of Mary in early September
• Bharananganam, in Kottayam district, draws large numbers for the feast of St Alphonsa in the second half of the year
• Parumala, in Pathanamthitta district, holds a well attended feast in early November

Dates for several of these are fixed on the Gregorian calendar, while others move with Easter. Confirm the programme with the parish, since timings and processions are decided locally each year.

What makes them different from temple festivals

Three things stand out.

First, the procession moves through the town rather than staying inside a compound, so you can watch from a street corner without entering anything.

Second, the food is central and open. Parishes cook at scale and serve widely.

Third, attendance often crosses religious lines, especially at the pilgrimage sites. This is normal and long standing, and it runs in the other direction too at the nercha festivals held at Malabar mosques.

How to attend

• Dress modestly, and cover shoulders and knees inside the church
• Stand along the procession route rather than in it
• Ask before photographing people, and put the camera away during services
• Accept food if it is offered
• Expect fireworks late at night at some parishes, which matters if you are staying nearby

Practical planning

• Accommodation near the large pilgrimage sites fills up well ahead of the feast
• Roads close or divert around processions, sometimes with little warning
• Carry cash for the stalls
• Peak days are far heavier than the days on either side, so choose based on whether you want scale or space

Finding the smaller ones

The large feasts are easy enough to look up. The interesting ones are often the small parish feasts a few kilometres away, which have processions and food and no listing anywhere.

That is the gap EventifyPlus is working on. It is a hyperlocal event discovery product for Kerala, live in production, covering temple festivals, Onam, Thrissur Pooram, Kathakali and Theyyam, backwater boat races and the Kochi carnivals. It works from both directions: people trying to find what is on near them, and organisers who otherwise have only word of mouth. Other services compete in this market, and whichever you use, confirm the date with the parish before travelling for it.

Pick one feast, arrive in the afternoon, and stay through the evening. The procession, the fireworks and the food all sit in that window, and you will get more from one parish than from three.