Theyyam

In the villages around the medium sized town of Kannur in northern Kerala, during the winter months, villagers hold religious dance performances known as Theyyam or Theyyatam. In each village the ceremonies occur on different times, involve somewhat different gods and always a different local plotline. The dances usually start in the middle of the night, sometimes early morning, and go on for many hours, repeating over the course of several days. Most amazingly, these have not yet become a tourist attraction - only a few foreigners were with me at each performance, making up a small fraction of the crowd, which was mostly women and small children. The men are mostly somehow involved in the ceremonies; teenagers evidently universally think that their parents' traditions are too uncool to be worth attending.

I didn't have too much trouble taking apart my sleep schedule and seeing a few different performances: two in the day time (morning), and one starting from midnight through the morning. They were amazing. The nighttime theyyatam was especially mesmerizing, lit by the large bonfire and torches swung in beat to the drums... But of course the videos I took came out better in the day time. Here's a long sample one for your viewing pleasure. Turn the volume up and enjoy!