सनातन पुस्तकालय Sanatan Cultural Library

The festival honours the Ardra star, held to be the birth star of Shiva. In Tamil Nadu it is Arudra Darshan: tradition holds that on this night Shiva revealed his ananda tandava, the dance of bliss, to the sages Vyaghrapada and Patanjali in the golden hall of Chidambaram. The Nataraja bronze — rarely moved — receives a grand abhishekam in the small hours, and the pre-dawn darshan of the dancing lord is counted among the holiest sights of the Tamil year. In Kerala the same star carries a gentler, domestic story: Parvati's long penance to win Shiva, crowned with success on Thiruvathira, and the remembrance of Kamadeva, the god of love burnt by Shiva's third eye and restored through Rati's grief. So Kerala's Thiruvathira became a festival of women — celebrating devoted love, praying for husbands and for good marriage, with Parvati as its quiet centre.

In Kerala, women keep the Thiruvathira noyambu, a fast that sets aside rice: the day's food is built on koova (arrowroot) porridge, tender coconut and the beloved Thiruvathira puzhukku, a hearty dish of tubers and beans. Before dawn women traditionally bathe together in ponds or rivers singing thudichu kuli songs, and through the day they swing on the oonjal hung from a high branch. The heart of the festival is Thiruvathirakali (Kaikottikkali), the circle dance around a lit nilavilakku, women in cream-and-gold kasavu clapping and turning to songs of Shiva and Parvati — many families keep the vigil through the whole night. In Tamil Nadu the day belongs to the temples: the maha-abhishekam of Nataraja with milk, curd, honey and sandal, the pre-dawn Arudra Darshan, and the offering of thiruvathirai kali, a sweet of rice and jaggery, served with a seven-vegetable kootu.

The household side of Thiruvathira travels well. The noyambu is straightforward in Canada — arrowroot flour, tubers for puzhukku and tender coconut are all available at Asian grocers — and December's long northern night rather suits a festival of lamps and vigil. Malayali families here often gather for Thiruvathirakali in living rooms or rented halls; the dance needs only a lamp, a circle and the songs, and it is a lovely tradition to pass to daughters and sons alike. The oonjal may have to wait for a basement beam or be cheerfully skipped in an Ottawa winter. For Arudra Darshan, the Chidambaram abhishekam is widely streamed live; note that the Indian pre-dawn hours fall in the previous Ottawa evening, which makes watching together after dinner quite natural. Check this site's calendar for the local Thiruvathira star date.