Kannur · Kerala
Theyyam country
Where men become gods for a night, from December to April.
When to come
December to April, which is both the good weather and the Theyyam season.
How long
Two, three if you are following the shrines.
Getting there
Kannur has its own international airport, twenty minutes from the town.
Theyyam is the reason to plan a journey around a calendar. It is not a performance for anybody: a village ritual in which a man in costume and firelight becomes a deity, speaks as one, and is consulted as one — it runs in the shrines of north Malabar through the cool months, most nights, somewhere. Being taken to one by somebody who knows the family is an entirely different experience from watching one, which is the whole argument for going with people who are from here.
The rest of the district is quietly remarkable. Muzhappilangad is the longest drive-in beach in India, four kilometres of hard sand you are allowed to drive along. Thalassery gave the world its biryani and, less probably, taught India cricket. The Kannur fort is Portuguese, then Dutch, then British, in the usual order.
There are no crowds up here, and the coast is almost entirely unbuilt.
Kannur, in photographs
Worth your time, or not?
Tell us how many days you have and who is coming, and we will tell you whether Kannur belongs in them — and what to leave out to make room for it.