Theyyam Photo Tour

Anita from Mysore :I enlisted for a Theyyam Photo Tour with Arun Saha. Santosh was the key behind all the arrangements for the Theyyam visits….

Saran Suebsantiwongse from Thailand visited our homestay and experienced many theyyam festivals – Dec 2017

While blessing me, the deity gave a concise, yet profound philosophical discourse; ‘God exists in different forms, he may look different where you are, but we are all the same’ – Saran Suebsantiwongse

Our guests Mr. Andreas Schwarber and wife from Switzerland at Kannur after experiencing Theyyam. Thanks for being our guests. – Jan 2018

Theyyam is one of the world’s great living ritual performances. It’s something that every person should see before they die. It is as beautiful, relevant, and living, as it is ancient and precious. It’s a great testimony to the strength of the people and culture of Kerala that this tradition is still very much alive after hundreds, if not thousands, of years. Santosh and his team at Travel Kannur are the best way for you to see Theyyam. They know more about it than anyone else and they’ll take you right to the best performances. They’ll also cook you delicious food and tell you things about Kerala that you’d never learn otherwise. I can’t recommend them enough. Do yourself a favor and book a trip with them now! – A., New York City

Orit Brawer Ben David came for 10 days South India Heritage Tour – Karnataka & Hambi
Sorry I did not answer your e-mail but we were very busy on our return to Israel.
We did enjoy very much our trip to India. Our driver Arun was very professional and kind and the car was always clean. Praveen is a very good guide he knows a lot and was very flexible to adjust the plan to our wishes. Some of the hotels were really great like the hotel in Goa, in Badami, and in Udupi some were awful and we believe you should check before you book for your clients. As you know we had a fault with money transfer, and the fact that you insisted to remind us twice a day that we should send you the money was not pleasant at all. After all we trusted you and sent you half of the payment in advance.
Any way we had a lot of experiences from Kerala and India and we hope to come again.

I am Subrata Bose, who just visited along with Mr Subir Gupta, to Kannur and had been extremely fortunate to avail your hospitality at Payangadi home stay. I am compelled to write to you as I could not resist from thanking you for the wonderful out of the world photographic trip based on Theyyam. I have no words to express my gratitude for the arrangements you made, the amenities for the homestay, the exquisite food and the unimaginable logistic support you provided. Please convey my heartiest thanks to Mr & Mrs Narayanan for whatever they have done for us. Their warmth as hosts was admirably astonishing.
I am personally awaiting for my next visit.
It is the best photography tour in my life so far.
Thanks again

Famous Adventure Photographer from India & his team visited Kannur Nov 2017 – “You can trust them for everything, I know them since few years and get help on most of my needs, related to travel in Kerala. Highly recommended.

Jan 2-18 – “I visited Kannur couple of days ago with watching Theyyam being my main agenda. I trusted ‘Travel Kannur’ for showing me around, and they did a fantastic job there and more than exceeded my expectations! I would like to thank Mr.Santhosh and Mr. Ranjith- my pathfinder for the 3 days i spent in Kannur, for he tirelessly tried to show me as many Theyyams as he could, be it night 3 AM. My visit to Kannur definitely wouldn’t have been successful without ‘Travel Kannur.’ They tried to help me understand various stories and details involved, which made me more curious and interested in Theyyam. Again, I would like to thank them for the amazing time I had in Kannur, as it is solely because of the “Travel Kannur’ team. Looking forward to visit Kannur again next year and experience their hospitality at their homestay.” – Onkar Tendulkar, Architect, Mumbai.

A very nice and calm place. We had a fine room.The main reason why we choose to come to this place was the Theyyam and here we were not disappointing. We attended Theyyam on two days at two different places and it was a fantastic experience! The people in the temples were also very friendly and hospitable. We are grateful to our hosts, to the rickshaw driver/neighbour Mohanan and to the people from the Theyyam and temples. This was the absolute highlight of our trip to Kerala. One tip: We walked around a lot and one day we walked through a small harbour and came upon a small beach, there was a nice little restaurant called “Sea Dine”, it’s a rather new place so not all rickshaw drivers know how to come there, it’s near Chootad Falcon Childrens Park. The beach is on the mouth of the river and across you see the big beach in the direction of Kannur. It is beautiful with low tide, you can walk on the sand “islands” and there are many birds. Lisa and Roland. 30th Nov 2017

We have enjoyed our Kannur stay very much thank you. We have now traveled back to our friends house in Nedumburamchal. Thank you so much…

Travelkannur supported me  Mayuri Japan …… North Kerala is abundant in the natural beauty like forest, sea and wild animal.  Traditional Folk ritual is preserved…

Hi…what a peaceful house and such interesting wonderful people!  i am getting to meet many of the warm and friendly people in your community….a delight! Thx…

Hello Santhosh. Thank you for your good organisation of bringing us to interesting Theyyam events.
Unni was very helpful & so was the driver.
This is only the begining & I am sure I will be needing your services in the future also.
Regards & best wishes
Ramakrishnan

hi Santhosh!
just wanted to thank you again for the theyyam tour experience. We are very happy.
I also wanted to inquire further in regards to the extended stay and research concept.

Ian

I’m just writing to say a big thank you to you and Mr. Pavanan for organizing my stay in Kannur last week, and arranging my…

The staff were absolutely wonderful and incredibly helpful and attentive. We had a fantastic time with them and the boat and backwaters were just spending….

I’m back safely to Japan! Thanks to u all, I had a great time in Kerala!!  Staying at home stay was really wonderful experience for…

I have to say the the Theyyam experience with Travelkannur was handled brilliantly. It was truly a sensational four days that you all arranged for us. The theyyams you chose for us to attend just could not have been more stunning and moving. There were many different theyyams at each temple and each one had gorgeous costumes, headdresses, and exceptional drumming. I was able to photograph them all from up close. You were very receptive to my requests for small temple theyyams where we could interact with the people and be close to the dancers. The daytime ones were beautiful, and we could photograph the preparations as well as the dances.

Kannur district in the north of Kerala is famous for “Theyyam”. It is not a entertainment show for the tourists, but real ritual of faith for the local people. At the same time, it’s a great photogenic subjects for both tourists and Indians. If you are interested in the ethnology and folklore, or festivals and performing arts, I highly recommend to go to see Theyyam. You can taste a little National Geographic photographer!! I visited Kannur in the end of the year for viewing and shooting Theyyam for 2 days. TRAVELKANNUR, the agent was my private guide. They’re the expert in this field having perfect knowledge and information about Theyyam which is taken place in the isolated temples in this remote area according to Malayalam calendar (not fixed date every year). Though I was a busy traveler having very short holiday, I could have most enjoyable experience with the assistance of them. I think it’s difficult to go to see Theyyam by yourself. Coz it’s hard to identify the site and date exactly for foreigners. Definitely you need a car and local guide. Also the villagers are very humble but open-minded. They allow aliens like me to enter the temple and to shoot their gods, even they teach me a photo spot in the make-up tent. To respond to their generosity, we have to keep the rule and manner when we view or shoot Theyyam. Remember it’s their living gods. Enjoy…!

We were picked up at the train station and immediately taken to a Theyyam. It was unlike any experience I have ever seen and i felt grateful and excited to see such a wonderful ritual first hand. We watched the rituals, which were amazing and had the opportunity to talk with the other people at the rituals, they were all so kind and eager to help us understand more about what we were seeing. The second Theyyam we went to was the Tiger Dance and other rituals late at night, we were there through about 2:30am and it was such an incredible experience. We were the only westerners there, definitely not a tourist attraction, this is local culture and religious rites as they have been for a very long time. We were careful to dress appropriately and be respectful observers of these amazing rituals. We had an incredible time!!! Visited January 2015

As a researcher on performance I was asked to give an opinion on Theyyam, a ritual that I had the opportunity to study.
Theyyam is an ancient ritual performed by the traditional lowest castes of the once highly stratified Kelala society, but involving most of the other social groups. It combines Dravidian and Arian elements and it is integrated in Hinduism in a most peculiar way. It is old (but not 7.000 years, don’t believe everything you’re told) and it has been adjusting along the years, like any other ritual.