Spring : The season to celebrate

Kerala wakes up to some festival or the other every day of the year. But the spring months bring a special air of festivities. Over a hundred festivals are celebrated in Kerala across the Malayalam months of Kumbham (Aquarius), Menam (Pisces) and Medam (Aries).

The annual snakeboat races are usually held during the second week of August. While these are much publicised event, there are other festivals where boats are used. In the second week of September, at Aranmula, 128 km from Thiruvanthampuram, a procession of boats and races are held as part of Parthasarthy Temple Festivals.

Another important festival of snakeboats display is a procession at Champakkulam, 16km from Alappuzha(Alleppey). This festival is held in July in honour of Lord Krishna.

Pooram Festival at Trichur, generally in the third week of April, is a magnificent display of caparisoned elephants when they form a procession at Vadakkunathan Temple.

Decorated elephants also form a procession at Thrivananthapuram in November's Arat Festival.

Shopping

Carved rosewood, teak furniture and decorative items, masks depicting various mythological characters (worn by Kathakli performers, Theyyams and other classical dances) are important products.

Coir handicrafts include table and floor mats, hand-knitted in exquisite designs. Bell metal vessels made by moosaris is another traditional craft of the state, though the range of products now includes demands of tourists, like temple lamps, jewel boxes.

A spciality of Thiruvananthapuram is Arammula, a metal mirror made by mixing herbs with molten metal to give it a reflective surface.