Hello Friends,
India is known for its colourful festivals celebrated with a lot of cheer, prayers and cooking different types of food. Specially in South India, come August a series of festivals begin with the onset of the Tamil (language of TamilNadu) month – Aadi, in English calendar which would be July and August.
July 17th the first day of Aadi itself is followed as a special day with prayers and meditation. Later comes, Aadi Pooram (Godess Parvathi/Andal), Aadi Krithigai (Lord Muruga), Varalakshmi Puja (Godess Varalakshmi), Avani Avittam (Sacred thread ceremony celebrated by Tamil Brahmin community), Vinayak Chathurthi (Lord Vinayak/Ganesha), Krishna Jayanthi (Lord Krishna), Dusshera (Goddess Lakshmi) and culminates finally with a spectacular Diwali (Triumph of good over evil where Demon Narahasura gets killed) and fireworks.
Aadi is dedicated as a month of prayer and devotion, and women across TamilNadu pray to Goddess Shakthi as it is a month rendered as a tribute to her. Shakthi Temples come alive during this month with women in red and yellow sarees cook sweet pongal and offer it to the goddess and seek her blessings. Aadi Pooram is another special day that is considered sacred and when Andal joined her consort Lord Ranganathar.
For all the auspicious things that this month brings, no new moves or ventures are undertaken in this period. As it is considered a month of prayers and not to be spent on other distracting activities!
An ancient Goddess Shakthi temple in T.Nagar
A woman devotee cooling sweet pongal as an offering to Goddess Shakthi
Inner view of the Alaiyamman temple in T.Nagar
Useful Links
https://www.astroved.com/us/specials/aadivelli
http://hindupad.com/aadi-velli-fridays-in-aadi-month-in-tamil-nadu/
Cheers
Bhuvana Rajaram
Very useful information on the month of Aadhi, hope we will get more information like this on Cheenai Heritage also.
Yes Hareesh. Keep checking, we do feature a great deal of Chennai heritage.