Feast of Saint Raphael
Pandal in Ollur Junction made for the annual feast of Saint Raphael
GenreChurch festivals
Dates23, 24 October
Location(s)Ollur, Thrissur, Kerala
Founded1718
Attendance1,00,000 above
Patron(s)Saint Antony
Websitehttp://ollurshrine.org/

The Feast of Saint Raphael or Malakhayude Perunnal is an annual festival held in Ollur, near Thrissur, Kerala (India), since 1839. It draws thousands of pilgrims.[1] The Ollur forane church, founded in 1718 and dedicated to St Anthony, also houses a famous Shrine of Raphael the Archangel.[2] This is one of the oldest churches built in 18th-century Kerala. The festival, held on 23 and 24 October of each year, is one of the most important Christian festivals in Kerala. The festival starts with the hoisting of the ceremonial flag on 15 October to mark the beginning of the celebrations in the church compound.[3] It is one of half a dozen Christian festivals listed by Kerala Tourism as among the attractions of the state.[4]

References

  1. ↑ A. Sreedhara Menon, Social and Cultural History of Kerala (1979), p. 232.
  2. ↑ José Pereira, Baroque India: The Neo-Roman Religious Architecture of South Asia (2000), pp. 139-140.
  3. ↑ "Ollur Church Fete Begins on 23 October" The Hindu, 10 October 2004.
  4. ↑ Kerala Tourism Archived 7 March 2010 at the Wayback Machine, accessed 29 Oct. 2009
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.