Events & Festivals In Ooty

Festivals

Much like the place, fairs and festivals are a part of the joyous atmosphere, which epitomizes Ooty.

The Summer Festival held in May at the Botanical Garden attracts a large number of tourists. One of the main highlights of the festival is the flower show. A number of cultural programmes, are organized on the sidelines of the festival.

The Botanical Garden is also the location for an annual seasonal festival, which showcases the variety in fruits and vegetables.

Boat Races and Boat Pageantry are other added tourist attractions in the month of May. Many attend this annual water sports competition.

There is also a Tea and Tourism Festival held in January every year. The Tamilnadu Tourism Department and the Ministry of Tourism, Government of India jointly organizes all these festivals.

Among the religious festivals, the notable ones include the Thaipoosam at the Elk Hill Murugan Temple in February, Ooty Mariamman Temple Festival held in April every year.

Tea and Tourism Festival

Tea and Tourism Festival was held in Ooty on 3rd and 4th of February 2007. It was planned and organized by the District Administration and the Department of Tourism. The main aim of the festival was to attract the attention of the tourists on the cultivation of tea in the Nilgiri at Breeks. In the Tea Exhibition the below mentioned tea organization participated :

• Tea Board, Coonoor
• Chamraj tea
• UPASI, Coonoor
• Non Such Tea, Coonoor
• Indco Serve, Coonoor
• Stanes Amalgamated Tea Factory, Coonoor
• TANTEA, Coonoor
• Kannuvaru Tea, Kotagiri
• High Field Tea, Coonoor
• Hittakkal Tea Factory
• Sri Ram tea
• IBS Tea Factory, Kotagiri
• Nilgiri Bio-Tech

The District Collector, of the Nilgiris Thiru. Santhosh K.Misra was the chairman of the festival. On 3-2-2007 at 11-00 AM, he presided over the inaugural function. The Tea and Tourism Festival was inaugurated by Thiru.K.Ramachandran, the Minister for Khadi Board. To encourage tourism in the region with the assistance of the Nilgiri Heritage Stream Chariot Trust, a Tea Tour special trip was organized on the Nilgiri Mountain Railway (NMR) from Udhagamandalam to Coonoor. The visitors were given Free tea sachets and they were served Free hot lemon tea and free hot milk tea.

The Second day of the Tea and Tourism Festival was started by a cultural programme, which was carried out by the Udhagamandalam Hariharan Bajanai Sabha at 1.00 PM. It was followed by the performance of the College girls of Providence College, Coonoor and CSI Engineering College, Ketti. A student from Government Arts College was appreciated for his art of mimicry.

Ooty Mariamman Temple Festival

Ooty Mariamman Temple Festival is celebrated in the month of April. The mother Goddess, Mariamman is considered to be a form of Kaali, and is also referred to as Mahamaayi or Seethala Gowri. The beautiful hill station of Ooty wears a festive look on the day of festival. On the day of the festival thousands of devotees throng the temple campus from various parts of the district to witness the Mariamman Temple Festival.

Maariamman is the local deity of the region. The mother Goddess, Shakti, is worshiped throughout the Indian subcontinent, but with different names in different region. People from far off places come to the Mariamman Temple during the festival to pray for the well being of their family.

The Goddess Mariamman is a form of Shakti and is worshiped throughout the state of Tamil Nadu. It is believed that if the devotees pray the Goddess with sincerity and devotion, she showers them with prosperity and health. The local people have deep faith in the deity belief that this deity cures for diseases like measles, small pox, chicken pox and also other serious diseases.

Ooty Mariamman Temple Festival is a time for celebration and festivity for the people of Ooty. To show their devotion to the Goddess devotees walk barefoot over a pit of burning coal. Devotees make lamps from grounded rice and offer to the deity.

Makar Pongal

Makar Pongal is celebrated in Ooty and also in the state of Tamil Nadu as Harvest Festival. The festival of Makar Pongal is celebrated in Ooty with lot of festivity and celebration. It is symbolically associated with the prosperity and wealth. The festival is celebrated by the people of Ooty to thank Sun God, Nature, the God of Rain and the cattle for showering them with a plentiful harvest and economic prosperity.

Makar Pongal is a very auspicious festival celebrated all throughout India, but referred to with different names in different part of the country. In the western zone it is known as Makar Sankranti, in the north-eastern region it is called Bhogali Bihu, while in the northern states of Punjab, Haryana, Delhi it is called Lohri and on the southern India it is called Pongal or Makar Pongal. Makar Pongal is celebrated by most of the people in Ooty, they decorate their home with flowers and draw motifs on floor with a batter of grounded rice and water.

As per the Gregorian calendar, Makar Pongal is generally celebrated between January 12 and 15. The literal meaning of the word Pongal is "boiling over" and it is derived from 'Pongal', which is a rice pudding. Every household in Ooty makes this rice pudding with freshly harvested rice, milk and jaggery and then boil it together, since it is considered to be very auspicious. Astronomically the festival of Makar Pongal stands for the starting of Uttarayana.

Boat Races and Boat Pageantry in Ooty

The popular hill station of Ooty becomes even more happening in the summers. The famous Ooty Lake that is a major draw for the tourists, arranges for a boat race every year. It attracts a lot of tourists from for and wide during the festival of the Boat Races and Boat Pageantry in Ooty.

The festival of Boat Race in Ooty is arranged in the summer, usually in the month of May. The festival of Ooty Boat Races and Boat Pageantry continues for two days. This two day long festival is a major attraction for the tourists as well as the local people. They take part in the boat race and other activities that form parts of the festival.

The Ooty Lake is a beautiful water body that houses a Boat House where various kinds of boats can be hired from 8 am to 6 pm.

The month of May is a time for festivities in Ooty and the Boat Race and Boat Pageantry adds to the glory of the festive spirit. The merriment is all around Ooty in the month of May when there takes place many festivals. There is a very famous tradition of boat race in South India. Ooty is no exception to that and the Boat Races and Boat Pageantry in Ooty is an extension to the boat race tradition in South India.

Summer Festival Ooty

Summer is the time for festivities in the beautiful and charming place of Ooty. Tourists are at-tracted to the beautiful hill station of Ooty all the year round but during the summers, the charming place is thronged by all kinds of visitors. They come to be a part of the Summer Festival Ooty.

Ooty is famous for its Summer Festival, which is held every year in the month of May. The venue for the Summer Festival, as it is rightly called, is the famous Botanical Garden. With the greeneries of the Botanical Garden as the backdrop, ambiance of the Ooty Summer Festival is perfect.

The Summer Festival in Ooty include many interesting fairs and carnivals like the Flower Show. A large variety of flowers are displayed in this festival and this Flower show renders a very colorful and vibrant look to the Summer Festival of Ooty. The flower festival is held in the same venue as the Summer Festival but there are also festivities that go hand in hand in Ooty with the Summer carnival. There are the Boat Races, Fruit shows and other exhibitions that are held every year in the month of May in the hill station of Ooty.

During the Summer Festival, numerous cultural programmes are held in Ooty. Shows on tradi-tional classical arts are a special attraction. Arrangements are also made for some adventure sports like trekking for the ones who are interested. People from far and wide come to this beautiful hill station in this time of the year when the weather is also at its best.

Among the different interesting Fairs and Festivals in Ooty, the Summer Festival is definitely very special.

Flower Show in Ooty

Tourists from far off places come to witness the flower show in Ooty. The First Flower Show in Ooty was started in the year 1896. The flower show goes on for two days and is held in the month of May. The main objective of conducting this show is to instill awareness among the flower lovers, growers and people of farming society. Another objective is to entertain tourists around the world and boost tourism in the region. The beautiful flower show presents a mesmerizing scene with flowers of numerous varieties and colors.

Till 1979 it was organized by the Nilgiris Agri-Horticultural Society but from 1980 the state Government took the responsibility and since then it is conducted by the Government. In the year 1995, the Centenary Flower Show was held in the Botanical Gardens of Ooty. During the flower show more than 150 varieties of flowers are exhibited. Various varieties of flowers that are grown in the region and other imported varieties are displayed in the exhibition. One of the major attractions of the flower show is the Canopy Type stalls. Various colors and varieties of roses, carnation, gerbera, crysanthemum, dahlia, floribundas, acatic lilliatia, limonium, galdayn and many more are displayed in the flower show held in Ooty.

The exotic flora of the region namely Elaeocarpus Montane,Adiantum Tinctum, Dodonaea Viscosa, Adiantum Cuneatum, Elaeagnus Conferta, form the major attractions of the show. The serious initiatives of the horticultural department and the Government have made the Flower Show in Ooty more attractive.

Fruit Show in Coonoor

The Fruit Show in Coonoor is among the major cultural events of the region attracting thousands of tourists and local people. The Fruit Show is held in the last week of May and is celebrated for only one day. Till the year 1979, it was organized by Nilgiris Agri-Horticultural Society. In the year 2006, the 48th fruit show was conducted. More than 50 varieties of fruits grown in the region are displayed in the fruit show in Conoor.

The main objective of Fruit Show in Coonoor is to create awareness among the fruit growers and various farming societies to engage in the cultivation of fruit. During the Fruit Show, Fruit Garden Competitions are held where more than 20 gardens of the Nilgiri district participates. Fruit Show is organized at Sim's Park in Coonoor, nearly19 km from Ooty, in the District of Nilgiris in Tamil Nadu.

Many farmers from the region display the fruits grown in their orchard. This rare event is a very good platform for both the farmers to sell their products at a good price and for visitors to see all these exotic and indigenous fruits in one place. The best fruit garden and the best exhibits of fruits and vegetables are awarded. Some of the major fruits of the region such as apples, Pears, peaches, plums, apricots, persimmons, lemons, pomegranates etc. can be seen and tasted in the fruit show. The Department of Horticulture at Coonoor sells and displays fruit products like Marmalade, Jam, Jelly, Squashes, Pickles at the festival that are produced here. At the fruit show in Coonoor they even demonstrate the various techniques of production to the interested entrepreneurs.

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