Attukal Pongala


Attukal Pongala is a 10-day festival celebrated at the Attukal Temple, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India, during which there is a huge gathering of millions of women on the ninth day. These women prepare a divine food made of rice in earthen pots and offer it to the Goddess of the Temple.
The pongala preparation starts with the ritual called 'Aduppuvettu'. This is the lighting of the pongala hearth placed inside the temple by the chief priest.
The festival is marked as the largest annual gathering of women by the Guinness World Records.
This is the earliest Pongala festival in Kerala. The ceremony was set up in Guinness Book of World Records on February 23, 1997, when 1.5 million women participated in Pongala. In 2009, a new Guinness World Records celebrated 2.5 million attendance. This temple is also known as the Sabarimala for women.
on Attukal Pongala.
In 2019 Attukal Pongala was celebrated on Wednesday, 20 February.
The Attukal Pongala was held on March 9, 2020. The Attukal Pongala event started at 10.20 AM and ends at 2.10 PM with the traditional Nivedyam. Thousands of women participated despite the high alert from the state government against large gatherings due to the COVID-19 pandemic.