Chennai Sangamam
Chennai Sangamam is a large annual open Tamil cultural festival held in the city of Chennai. The festival is organized by the Tamil Maiyam and Department of Tourism and Culture of the Government of Tamil Nadu with the intention of rejuvenating the old village festivals, art and artists. The festival is centered around the occasion of Tamil harvest festival of Pongal and takes place for a week long period. The festival is conceived to be the longest and biggest open Festival in India
The festival is organized at various places in Chennai. The events that mark the festival include traditional and folk music shows folk dances, martial arts, classical music and dance performances, street plays, drama / theater etc… Apart from these, food component got added in the second edition of Chennai Sangamam in 2008 where food outlets catering traditional Tamil cuisine also became part of the celebrations. More than 2,000 performers take part in the event which accommodates around 4,000 performances annually.
You can walk around and eat fried bajji, dosai etc. but something that caught my attention was Coconut Sevai, Lemon Sevai and Kozhukkattai with coconut poornam inside (like it is done during Vinayaka Chathurthi).
the south Indian art of dancing with a decorated pot on the artiste's head
During kaliattam people dressed up as shiva,kali,parvati and evil mesmerised the croud with their dance.... The show was both energetic and colorful.
Taken during the chennai sangamam event in pallavaram on 11th jan 2009
