South India

The Hindu festival calendar of South India follows the Vakya panchang tradition, which often dates festivals one day differently from the Drik tradition followed in the North. Pongal — the four-day Tamil harvest festival celebrating the sun god Surya — is the largest cultural event of the Tamil year. Onam, the ten-day harvest festival of Kerala, is observed across the state with the elaborate pookalam floral carpets, the Onam Sadhya feast served on banana leaf, and the Vallam Kali snake-boat races on the Pampa and Punnamada backwaters. Krishna Janmashtami is observed as Gokulashtami in Tamil Nadu with the painting of tiny Krishna footprints from the doorway to the prayer altar. Navratri features the unique Golu — a stepped display of dolls representing gods and historical figures. The twelve Jyotirlinga shrines are the most sacred Shaivite pilgrimage sites for Maha Shivaratri. Muslim communities in Kerala — the Mappilas — maintain a unique Sunni Sufi tradition tracing back to seventh-century Arab traders. Tamil Nadu's Muslims observe the Erwadi Dargah Urs and the Nagore Andavar Dargah festival as major regional gatherings.