Illam Nira Vallam Nira
Yesterday was the day of Illam Nira Vallam Nira. Most of the temples in Kerala, including the prominent ones had the illam nira festival. All the temples had the the paddy clusters cut with stalks and bundled the same and brought to the temple. The Kizhshanthis brought the same to the inside of the premises and kept the same in the nada of the deities. The main priest did pooja and from the new paddy rice was made the rice was used to prepare the naivedyam for the deity and then give the same as prasadam to the devotees. This is an annual procedure when the paddy is ready to be harvested in the month of Chingam, which is the main harvest season of Kerala. The owners of the paddy field concerned bring a few clusters of the paddy cut from their land and give to the temples. This done as a thanksgiving to the local deities for the crop yield and to get plentiful in the coming cultivations of the year.In the earlier days on this days, family members of every household used to pluck one or part of a cluster of paddy crop with the paddy in the stalks, the chembu, mukkuthi and a few other plants mostly some type of medicinal grass varieties and bring home after getting pooja done in the local temple. At home a few strands of the paddy stalk cut in small size, but with the paddy grains intact will be kept at the top center of the main entrance door frame of the house and stuck with a small quantity of cow dung. This will remain for many months and in some cases for the whole year and will be replaced by the fresh ones in the next year season. The remaining strands of the paddy with the other items mentioned will be tucked in the front portion of the roof on top if the roof is of hay and palm leaves. If the roof is tiled the items will be kept in front side top on the tiles with the help of mud. The items will be brought from the local temple to the house with the male members of the family and children shouting the slogan "Illam Nira, Vallam Nira".
This procedure from the home have almost gone out of practice. But the temples still follow the festival.
