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Phenomenal amounts of money are lavished upon many, varied, and often all-night entertainments associated with Kerala's temples. Fireworks rend the air, while processions of gold-bedecked elephants are accompanied by some of the loudest (and deftest) drum orchestras in the world. The famous Puram festival in Thrissur is the most astonishing, but smaller events take place throughout the state - often outdoors, with all welcome to attend. Theatre and dance styles abound in Kerala; not only the region's own female classical dance form, Mohiniattam ("dance of the enchantress"), but also the martial-art-influenced Kathakali dance drama, which has for four centuries brought gods and demons from the Mahabharata and Ramayana to Keralan villages. Its 2000-year-old predecessor, the Sanskrit drama Kutiyattam , is still performed by a handful of artists, while localized rituals known as Teyyattam, in which dancers wearing nine-meter-tall masks become "possessed" by temple deities, continue to be a potent ingredient of village life in the north. Few visitors ever witness these extraordinary all-night performances first hand, but between December and March, you could profitably spend weeks hopping between village festivals in northern Kerala, experiencing a way of life that has altered little in centuries.
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