What is Theyyam?

Theyyam (from daivam, god) is the ritual dance-worship of North Malabar, more than a thousand years old, in which a performer from a hereditary community becomes, for a few hours, the deity itself. After the invocation songs (thottam), the elaborate face-painting and the placing of the great headgear (mudi), the performer dances, speaks as the god, and blesses each devotee individually. Over four hundred Theyyams are recorded; Kannur district is their heartland, with a Kaliyattam somewhere almost every night from October to May.