Kummatti

 

Kummatti is an important art form in the culture of Kerala which represents the Palakkad’s popular dance form in the name of “Kummatti kali.”

Kummatti is a festival celebrated at Pudussery village in Palakkad District. 

 

All the people of Pudussery will participate in the celebration of Kummatti but only the members of a particular caste can only wear the coloured-mask and fancy dresses to become a Kummatti dancers. 

The coloured masks are made of wood and they carry a long stick along with them. 

 

‘Sree Kurumba Bhagavathy Temple’ is the ancient and the main temple of Pudussery village; this is where all the festival celebration depends on. 

 

Two clans are divided according to their respective places for doing the rituals of the Kummatti kali. Both the clans will be dressed and wear coloured wooden masks. Each of them starts from the temples of their respective villages. 

 

At a particular ritual time in the afternoon, both the clans will start running with their sticks and gather up along the pond side in the middle of the village. Then both clans will start jumping and shouting which is the ritual to do be done before they part their ways. 

 

Afterwards, during the evening, the rituals will be more colourful with the help of the “deepam, vilakku” which are the traditional lamps used for poojas and rituals. There will be three elephants to perform the rituals. 

 

The elephants will be wearing nettipattams (elephant caparison), and the elephant in the middle will be carrying Devi’s thidambu (thidambu denotes the decorated replica of the deity in the temple).

 

Three people will be on top of each elephant, they will perform the rituals with the “aalavattam, venchamaram” along with the Panchari melam (Panchari Melam is a percussion ensemble, performed during temple festivals in Kerala). 

 

All the people in the village and lots of outsiders will gather together to watch this festival in the evening too. 

There will be a ‘panthal’ (a temporary roof) right in front of the temple. The ‘panthal’ is made using coconut leaves which are known as "thengola" among the natives. 

 

The “Kummatti” people will jump and destroy the “panthal” using their sticks which they carry all the time with them. After multiple attempts of the “Kummatti kolams,” the “panthal” will finally get destroyed and they will light the “Kambam” (fireworks using big bamboo stems) afterwards. 

 

Once the Kambam fireworks finish the entire “Kummatti” festival will get over. The elephants will bow and pray towards the entrance of the temple. Once the elephants leave the people gathered together and the “Kummatti kolams” will began to leave the temple.