கார்த்திகை தீபம்

Karthigai Deepam is the festival of lights as Tamils have kept it since long before Diwali arrived in the south. It falls on the full moon of the Tamil month of Karthigai — the same nakshatra (the Pleiades, the six Krittika mothers who nursed baby Murugan) the festival is named for. The household practice is simple: at sunset, rows of clay oil lamps go up everywhere — doorstep, kolam, window sills, the puja shelf — multiplied as many as the family wants to light. The temple lights its own giant flame, and at Tiruvannamalai a cauldron-sized deepam goes up on top of Arunachala hill, visible for miles. The story Tamils tell is of Shiva appearing as an infinite column of fire that neither Vishnu nor Brahma could find the ends of.

Observances

1. Lighting the agal vilakku

   At sunset, clay oil lamps go up in long rows around the house, the puja altar, the kolam, and the doorstep — as many as the family wants to light, often in an auspicious count.

2. Maha Deepam at Tiruvannamalai

   On the same evening, a giant flame is lit atop Arunachala hill at Tiruvannamalai — the Maha Deepam, visible for miles. Hundreds of thousands circle the hill on foot (girivalam) through the night.

Getting ready

• Buy clay agal vilakku — restock if last year's are usable

  home

  7d

• Buy sesame or peanut oil and cotton wicks

  home

  3d

• Make or order pori urundai (puffed-rice and jaggery balls)

  food

  2d

• Plan a larger kolam design for the threshold

  home

  1d

• Soak the clay lamps briefly so they don't crack when oil is added

  home

  0d

• Draw the kolam at sunset, before lighting

  home

  0d

• Light the first lamp from the household nilavilakku, then carry the flame to all the others

  ritual

  0d

In the US

Karthigai Deepam lives smaller in the US than Diwali — Tamil families keep both, but the deepam side is a quiet evening at home rather than a community-wide affair. The lamp lighting itself travels well: clay agal vilakku stock up at Tamil grocery stores (and at Indian-owned shops in cities with a Tamil Sangam) for a few weeks beforehand; apartment-dwellers with fire-code concerns switch to ghee-filled glass lamps or battery diyas without losing the meaning. Tamil Sangams in the Bay Area, New Jersey, Atlanta, and Dallas coordinate communal lamp evenings at temples on the closest weekend. Pori urundai — the puffed-rice-and-jaggery festival sweet — is hardest to source; many families order from Grand Sweets shipments or make it at home from store-bought pori and jaggery.