What's a festival without some decorations? Sure, there are a whole lot of 'ready-made', re-usable stuff available, but they somehow lack the charm of the just-made thoranams. One is used to seeing them fashioned from mango leaves - they'd last for days, the slightly thick leaves changing from their dark green to brownish, just before they are replaced by a new bunch of the festoons.
But for a change, here are thoranams made from tender leaves of the coconut palm - the kurutholai. The fronds are taken down before they are fully grown, so as to take full advantage of their flexibility. These are just one of the many designs that the kurutholai can be made into (here is another), but being tender, the festoons don't last for more than a day!
As a child I used to admire at people maling various types of toys like ball,snake,a propeller like thing (with a small stick in the centre and it rotates when one runs) with kuruthola and making "temples" with plantain bark(?)with kuruthola prior to Sabarimala pilgrimage!
ReplyDeleteI'm caught snapping i guess ....
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