Festivals

Dasara, or Devi Navaratri, honours the Divine Mother over nine nights, ending in victory on Vijayadashami. At Vijayawada, Sri Kanaka Durga is adorned in a different alankaram each day; homes observe Saraswati puja, Ayudha puja and the Jammi puja.

Bathukamma, the state festival of Telangana, is a nine-day women's flower festival. Each evening women arrange seasonal flowers into towering Bathukammas, sing and dance in circles around them, and on Saddula Bathukamma lay them gently into the water.

Sirimanotsavam is the great festival of Sri Paidithalli Ammavaru, the guardian goddess of Vizianagaram. On the first Tuesday after Vijayadashami, the temple priest, borne at the tip of a tall wooden pole – the Sirimanu – is carried three times between the fort and the temple, as lakhs of devotees offer their prayers.

Atla Taddi is a beloved festival of Telugu women and girls, kept for the well-being of their husbands and for a good marriage. They eat before dawn, fast through the day, play on swings and sing, and after moonrise worship Goddess Gauri with an offering of attlu.

Deepavali, the festival of lights, celebrates the victory of light over darkness. In Andhra Pradesh and Telangana the main day is Naraka Chaturdashi, remembering the fall of Narakasura before Satyabhama and Krishna, followed by Lakshmi puja and rows of lamps.

Karthika Masam, the holiest month of the year for Telugu devotees, is sacred to Lord Shiva and Lord Vishnu. It is observed with dawn river baths, daily lamps, Karthika Somavaram fasts, Vana Bhojanalu under the usiri tree and Pancharama darshan, and peaks on Karthika Pournami with the Jwala Thoranam.

Nagula Chavithi is the Telugu festival of serpent worship. Families go to a putta (anthill) early in the morning, pour milk and offer turmeric, kumkum, flowers and chalimidi to the Naga devatas, praying above all for the well-being of their children. It is kept in Karthika and as Naga Panchami in Shravana.

Subrahmanya Shashti – Subbarayudu Shashti in the Telugu lands – is the great festival of Lord Subrahmanya Swamy on Margashira Shukla Shashti. Devotees fast, worship the Lord in his serpent form, pour milk at anthills and pray for the well-being of their children, and the Subrahmanya temples hold their grandest celebrations.

Dhanurmasam is the sacred month when the Sun is in Dhanus. Vishnu temples wake the Lord with Andal's Tiruppavai in the early dawn – at Tirumala it takes the place of the Suprabhatam – and offer pongal as prasadam. The month ends on Bhogi with Goda Kalyanam, the divine wedding of Andal and Lord Ranganatha.

Vaikuntha Ekadasi, called Mukkoti Ekadasi in the Telugu states, is the day the gates of Vaikuntha are believed to open. Vishnu temples open their northern gate for Uttara Dwara Darshanam, drawing lakhs of devotees to Tirumala, Bhadrachalam, Yadadri and Dwaraka Tirumala.

Makara Sankranti, the great harvest festival of the Telugu states, is celebrated over three days – Bhogi, Sankranti and Kanuma – with Bhogi bonfires, muggulu, Haridasulu, Gangireddulu, kite flying and the Kanuma worship of cattle.

On Kanuma, the villages of Konaseema carry their tall, colourful prabhas – representing the eleven Rudras – across paddy fields and canals to Jaggannathathota near Mosalapalli, where, by tradition, the Ekadasa Rudras meet. The centuries-old Prabhala Theertham has been declared a State festival of Andhra Pradesh.