Attukal Pongala is a famous 10-day annual Malayalam festival celebrated at the Attukal Bhagavathy Temple in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala. It is one of the largest gatherings of women for a religious event in the world. The 10-day festival starts on the Karthigai star of the Malayalam month of Makaram or Kumbham and ends with the sacrificial offering known as Kuruthitharpanam at night. On the ninth day of the festival, the world-famous Attukal Pongala Mahotsavam is held. This year, Attukal Pongala 2024 will be celebrated on Sunday, February 25. The main highlight of the Attukal Pongala festival is the ritual of preparing a sweet offering known as ‘Pongala’. February 2024 Holidays Calendar: From Basant Panchami and Valentine's Day; Complete List of Important Dates in This Month.

The festival is marked as the largest annual gathering of women by the Guinness World Records. In 1997, the ceremony was set up in the Guinness Book of World Records when 1.5 million women participated in Pongala. In 2009, a new Guinness World Record celebrated the gathering of 2.5 million women.

Attukal Pongala 2024 Date and Timings

  • Attukal Pongala 2024 will be celebrated on Sunday, February 25.

  • The Pooram Nakshathram will begin at 10:20 PM on February 24 and end at 01:24 AM on Feb 26, 2024

Attukal Pongala Celebrations

On the ninth day of the 10-day festival, hundreds of women devotees, locally known as ‘Pongala Ammas’, gather around the temple premises and cook rice, jaggery, coconut, and other ingredients in earthen pots as an offering to the presiding deity, Attukal Amma (Goddess Bhagavathy). The Pongala is prepared using fresh ingredients and cooked over open fires.

The pongala preparation starts with the ritual called 'Aduppuvettu', which is the lighting of the pongala hearth called Pandarayaduppu placed inside the temple by the chief priest. The entire process of cooking the Pongala is considered highly auspicious, and it is believed that the Goddess blesses the offerings, which are later distributed as prasad (blessed food) to the devotees.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Feb 19, 2024 12:51 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).