Goat Pierced, Swung Around In Unique Festive Ritual In Tamil Nadu Temple – News18

Last Updated:April 14, 2025, 17:19 is

In Kiliyur, thousands attended the Mariamman temple festival with a goat-spinning ritual predicting rain. Despite heavy rain, women prepared Pongal offerings.

In the remote village of Kiliyur near Ulundurpet, Tamil Nadu, an unusual and deeply traditional ritual captivated thousands of devotees as the annual Mariamman temple festival reached its peak under stormy skies. Amid heavy rains, devotees performed a centuries-old ceremony that involved suspending a goat and spinning it around a towering wooden pole, a practice rooted in local belief and agricultural prophecy.

The festival, celebrated with vibrant fervour, began with the traditional flag hoisting last week. Since then, the temple has been adorned daily with flowers, lights, and colourful decorations. The most anticipated event of the festival, the grand Pongal offering, was celebrated soon after.

More than 100 women gathered early in the morning outside the temple, each preparing pots of sweet Pongal as an offering to the goddess Mariamman, who is venerated as a protector from diseases and a bringer of rain and fertility. Just as the preparations were underway, a sudden downpour drenched the entire village. Undeterred, women continued their ritual, balancing pots of boiling milk and rice while shielding themselves with sarees and scarves in the relentless rain.

The rain, which lasted over an hour, left the temple grounds submerged in ankle-deep water, but the spirits remained high. From a nearby pond, the ceremonial “Agni Karagam” procession arrived, accompanied by drummers and fire-bearers. This led to the dramatic moment when a live goat was pierced with a long stick and hoisted high above the ground, suspended from a 30-foot wooden pole. As the goat was spun in wide circles around the pole, thousands watched in reverent silence.

According to local belief, the direction in which the goat’s head turns during the spin indicates the direction where the rains will bring prosperity to the land and lead to a bountiful harvest. The act, though controversial to outsiders, is seen by villagers as a divine forecast, linking animal behaviour to agrarian success.

More than 3,000 devotees from over 20 nearby villages including Raghunathapuram, Bhuvanur, Vadamambakkam, and Kunnathur, gathered to witness the spectacle and seek blessings from the goddess.

In another similar display of faith and community spirit, the village of Chozhapuram also celebrated a traditional meat feast held in honour of Lord Veeranar, the village’s fierce guardian deity, as thousands of devotees gathered for the grand Keda virundhu at the Arulmigu Veeranar Temple. The temple, revered by the Mukkulathor community, hosts this elaborate ritual once every two years. This year, the long-awaited festival unfolded on the night of April 12, when 200 male goats, known locally as musicwere ritually sacrificed in the temple premises as offerings to the deity.

Approximately 2,000 kg of meat were simmered overnight in giant iron cauldrons, with village cooks preparing a spiced mutton curry that would serve as both offering and community meal. The freshly cooked Kari Question – a dish of meat and rice – was first presented ceremonially to Veeranar as a sacred padayal before being distributed to the waiting devotees.

Around 10,000 people from 32 surrounding villages, including those from the Konur region, gathered in the temple courtyard to partake in the feast. With plates heaped with steaming rice and ladles of rich, aromatic meat curry, the faithful honoured their deity not just through prayer, but through a communal meal steeped in tradition and reverence.

Location :

Tamil Nadu, India, India