Thiruvananthapuram: Ochira temple, one of the ancient temples of Kerala, is all set to celebrate the unique harvest festival on Tuesday with its traditional straw bulls. The festival, also known as ‘Irupethiyettam Onam’, falls on the 28th day of Onam every year. Devotees take out huge dummies of Nandhikesha, the vehicle of the temple deity Parabrahmam, with wood and straw at the temple ground called Padanilam on the festival day.
Making the dummy bulls, known in local parlance as called Kalakettu, is an important part of the festival. K. Shivarajan, president of the Onattu Kathiravan Kalakettu Samithi said the bull named Onattu Kathiravan made three years ago at a cost of Rs 50 lakh is considered one of the biggest of its kind in Asia.
The bull is 53 feet 3 inch tall and is made with eight tones of straw, 400 cubic feet wood, 4.5 tones steel, 600 meters each of jute and cloth. Secretary of Ochira Temple administrative council Sadasivan said there would be 110 bulls representing 56 villages associated with the temple at the festival. “As many as 106 bulls partici[pated last year,” he said. “Many bulls participated without registration.”
