Worshipping as Women

Responding to my Whose Saree Now? post, Priya reminded me of the Kottankulangara Festival, an annual Hindu festival in Kerala, India, where over 5,000 men and boys irrespective of their religious faith dress as women and girls. The festival takes place at the Kottankulangara Devi temple at Chavara, Kerala, which is sacred to the goddess Bhagavathy. 

Every year this festival is celebrated on the 10th and 11th day of Meenam (mid-March). On the festival day, thousand of devotees visit the Temple to seek the blessings of the Goddess Bhagavathy. The men dress up in the female attire of their choice. Some wear Set sari, Pattu sari, half sari or even dance costumes.

While some of the devotees are dressed up by their female family members, there are a number of beauticians, makeup artists and clothiers around the temple, who charge between $6 and $26 for decking out the faithful. 

Priya sent me links to the following articles about the festival:

• The Kerala temple where thousands of men dress up like women every year
  
  
• At this Kerala temple, thousands of men dress up as women to get deity's blessings
  
  
• Worshipping as women: Check out this unique Kerala festival for men

And YouTube has a slew of videos related to the festival. This video, in particular, provides a sample of the excellent quality of the femulations by the festival attendees.

In India, the general public’s tolerance (or lack thereof) of crossdressing is about the same as in the USA. So I found it interesting that attendance at this festival en femme is so acceptable among the civilians. I guess the festival’s acceptance is due to its religious aspect. Even young boys are encouraged to crossdress when religion is involved!

And so it goes!

Wearing Mayloz

Men worshipping as women at India’s Kottankulangara Festival