Riverside temple festival

Elamkavu Aattuvela, another beautiful festival of Kerala in South India, is different from the others in that the procession celebrating it moves on a river and not on the streets as in the case of other processions.

During this annual celebration at the Elamkavu Temple in Vadayar near the town Vaikom (Vaikkom) in Kottayam district, several canoes move down the river carrying the replicas of the temple.

The festival falls in the month of April and the legend behind it is that another deity, the Goddess at Kodungalloor, is paying an annual visit to the Goddess at Elamkavu, who is her sister.