Nallur Kovil Annual Grand Festival

The Nallur Kandaswamy Kovil which is also known as the Nallur Murugan Kovil is one of the most famous Hindu temples in the Jaffna peninsula. It is situated in the Nallur town and the Nallur Kovil festival is one of the longest festivals which usually runs for about 25 days. During these 25 days, Jaffna is filled with people from far and wide and many Tamil expatriates come to Sri Lanka to pay their various vows and take part in the festival rituals. This colourful festival includes vibrant Chariot processions, rhythmic drumming, dancing and acts of self-mortification, mainly devoted to god Skandan.

This year the Nallur festival starts on August 09th and this annual festival will ceremonially end on September 03rd. Thousands of devotees will attend the daily Pooja ceremonies in the morning and in the evenings.

During the annual festival, thousands of Tamil Hindu devotees attend the Nallur temple rituals in worship of Lord Murugan, Valli and Devanai Amman. Specially made and colourfully decorated chariots and traditional “Vaganangal” is used for the transportation of the Gods. The devotees perform all sorts of devotional rituals to show their devotion to the gods from pulling the chariot to rolling on the bare ground seeking the blessings of the gods. Others line up on the chariot route to get a glimpse of the processions. During this procession, the entire area is a sea of people with barely a space to move.