Temple festivals, church feasts and mosque celebrations across Kottayam district — what’s coming first. Dates for lunar-calendar festivals are confirmed by each temple a few weeks ahead; we mark the ones still to be announced.
Nine nights of Navaratri; Vidyarambham — children’s first letters — on 21 October (Vijayadashami in Kerala). Thousands of families come for the ceremony.
Official details ↗Ten-day festival from Thiruvonam to Rohini; Thrikarthika, the main day, is 24 November with lamps lit across the village.
Official details ↗Temple opens 16 November; Mandala Pooja 27 December; reopens 30 December; Makaravilakku 15 January 2027. Erumely is the traditional route, so district roads and Kanjirappally–Erumely traffic feel it for two months.
Official details ↗Thirteen-day festival; Ashtami on the twelfth day, Arattu on the last. One of Kerala’s great temple festivals — in 2025 Ashtami fell on 12 December.
Official details ↗Midnight services on 24 December; carol rounds run through the month in Changanassery, Pala and Kanjirappally.
Pilgrims dance from the Vavar mosque to the Sastha temple — the district’s best-known Hindu–Muslim ritual. Falls two days before Makaravilakku.
Official details ↗The three-day fast of Jonah at one of the oldest Marian churches in India; the Kappalottam re-enactment draws crowds from across Kerala.
Official details ↗Ten-day festival ending on Thiruvathira. The seven-and-a-half golden elephants are displayed on the eighth day. In 2026 it ran 18–27 February.
Official details ↗Eid prayers at Thazhathangady — one of Kerala’s oldest mosques, on the Meenachil river — and at Erattupetta, Kanjirappally and Vaikom.
Ten-day festival in the heart of town, ending with the Arattu procession and the pakalpooram of caparisoned elephants.
Official details ↗Good Friday 26 March, Easter Sunday 28 March 2027. Kottayam has the highest share of Christians of any Kerala district; expect processions in Changanassery, Pala and town.
Two-day feast known for its vast offerings of kozhi and paal, and for the crowds from every community.
Official details ↗Erattupetta and Kanjirappally, the district’s largest Muslim towns, mark Bakrid with mass prayers on the eidgah grounds.
Dukhrana, 3 July — the feast of the apostle, at the cathedral of the Pala diocese.
Nine days of novena ending on 28 July, the saint’s death anniversary. Lakhs of pilgrims; the Pala–Bharananganam road is closed to through traffic on the final days.
Official details ↗Processions and public meetings for the Prophet’s birthday, particularly in Erattupetta.
The eight-day fast for the Nativity of Mary — the largest church gathering in the district, drawing pilgrims from across Kerala and the Gulf.
Dates are updated as temples and churches announce them. Tell us if we have one wrong.