Karthigai Deepam is on December 6th, 2022

  • Milagu Adai

    Difficulty: Easy

    Discover the delicious and nutritious South Indian snack, Milagu Adai. Made with lentils, rice, and black pepper, it’s crispy and flavorful. Perfect with Vellam and Vennai (Jaggery and Butter). Try it on Karthigai Deepam Day for an authentic experience!

  • Panai Olai Kozhukattai

    Difficulty: Medium

    This dish is specially prepared for Thirukarthigai Day (Karthigai Deepam festival) in the districts of Kanyakumari, Tirunelveli and Tuticorin in southern part of Tamil Nadu state in India.

  • Sojji Appam

    Difficulty: Medium

    A festival sweet dish made during Karthigai Deepam.

  • Pidi Kozhukattai – Sweet

    Difficulty: Medium

    Learn how to make Sweet Pidi Kozhukattai, a delectable South Indian dessert typically enjoyed during Ganesh Chaturthi festival.

  • Karthigai Appam

    Difficulty: Medium

    Traditionally the batter for this dish is prepared by soaking the rice with little urad dhal and grinding along with jaggery and coconut. It is a special dish for Karthigai Festival.

  • Karthigai Pori

    Difficulty: Medium

    A traditional Tamil sweet made during the Karthigai festival

Karthigai Deepam is one of the oldest festivals celebrated by the Tamil people in the Tamil month of Karthigai. It has been referred to in many ancient works of Tamil literature that dates back to 2,000 or 2,500 BC.

It is celebrated in a grand manner at Tiruvannamalai where a huge lamp (A circular metal lamp of five and half feet height and diameter of five feet which hold 2000 litres of ghee. The wick of the lamp is made up of 30 meters of thick cotton cloth and 2 kilogram camphor) is lit on top of the Tiruvannamalai hill, symbolizing Shiva’s appearance as a huge column of light. When the lamp is lit, it can be seen across an area of 35 kilo meters around the Hill Shrine.

It is also called as ‘Thirukarthigai’ and celebrated to commemorate the birth of Lord Muruga.

Most of the people fast from morning till evening. In the evening after doing Puja, they light large number of flat earthen oil lamps (Agal Vilakku) and arrange it in a beautiful way on the Kolams drawn in front of the house. The lamps are also kept in a row on the Balconies, Staircases, Near the Door Entrance, Windows, all over the floors and wherever people find place in and around their houses. Traditionally Karthigai is celebrated with earthen oil lamps only. Now, in Cities some people switched over to the scented candles in different colours and designs.

The other feature of this celebration is lighting of bonfire called `chokkapanai’. Dried panai (palm tree) fronds are tied to a dry wood and placed in an open place near the temples. After the evening Puja and lighting the lamps, the temple priest will come out and do puja and lit the chokkapanai. Once it catches fire, it will start bursting with cracking sounds. May be olden days crackers??

Children also do fireworks (mostly saved from the Deepavali Purchase) to mark the occasion.

The lighted lamp is considered an auspicious symbol. It is believed to ward off evil forces and usher in prosperity and joy. More than that it is a beautiful sight to watch the lamps or the candles glow in the dark night.

Let the lights lit for the festival usher in brightness not only into the houses but also in every one’s life.

41 Comments

  1. சாருஸ்ரீராஜ்

    advance deepam wishes to you and to your family members

  2. Thank you சாருஸ்ரீராஜ். I too wish you and your family the same.

  3. vazghthukkal…

  4. Gayathri's Cook Spot

    Lovely post on Karthigai deepam. Nice recipes..

  5. Hi Kamala,
    Happy Karthigai deepam wishes to you and your family. The day is special to us, as it coincides with the birthday of my husband.
    The pics. of pori undai and appam look soooooo tempting.
    Uma

  6. Thank you Uma. My advance wishes to your husband on his Birthday.

  7. Thank you Gayatri.

  8. Thank you WhoamI.

  9. Thanks for posting Karthigai Recipes!!!

  10. Great help to me with your records

  11. Valuable info. Lucky me I found your site by accident, I bookmarked it.

  12. Useful blog website, keep me personally through searching it, I am seriously interested to find out another recommendation of it.

  13. Ponnammal Balasubramanian

    My Best Wishes to Madam Kamala, all the participants and their family members of this Kamala’s Corner forum on the eve of Karthigai Deepam.

  14. Uma Ramachandran

    Hi Kamala

    Thanks for the information. Happy Karthigai Deepam to you and your family.

  15. hi kamala how do u do happy karthigai deeepam

  16. Thank You Ma,
    Very useful for all tamil house wives .

  17. hai mam,I’m happy to see the karthikai pori recepi on ur website.Thank U mam & Happy Karthikai Deepam mam

  18. jyothi Raman

    Happy Karthikai I will try the receipies
    thank u

  19. Hello,
    I loved your website and intend to follow it for many recipes. Thanks for such a wealth of information and organizing them with so much care. I have made a mention of your website on my blog – please feel free to access http://foodiessphere.blogspot.com/2011/12/karthigai-deepam.html

    Hope you had a great festival at home.

    • Hi Divya Shankar,

      Thank you for your kind comments. I am really glad to see your post referring my site in your blog. It is a great feeling when co-bloggers appreciate the other. Thank you once again for taking time to write.

  20. Dear Kamala

    Beautiful Kolam and nice website..may god bless you and your family..keep up the good work ma

    Thanks
    Kumar S.R

  21. Thank you very very much!! your kolam portion is also very nice! I learnt a lot from you!!

  22. Hi Kamala Mam, Happy Karthigai Deepam.Every menu is superb, especially that Karthigai Adai is really superb. My husband liked it very much.

    I have come up with a request to you. I used to mess up my adirasam, but u taught me that and its now coming perfect. Now I need your help with regard to Rasagolla which is my favorite sweet. Today i made it and its a total waste. I tried it N number of times and everytime its a flop.That’s y i have come up with a request to you. You are the correct person to teach me rasagolla preparation.today i made it, its a utter flope. while posting this recipe, please advise on flame level, whether to close the vessel or not, cooking time. mine is always hard, or inside still white in color, many defects. eagerly waiting for your recipe.

    Thank you onceagain for the beautiful karthigai deepam recipe.suchithra

    • Thank you Suchithra for your kind words. I remember you have already asked for Rasagolla. To be true to you, I have not tried this recipe yet and hence the delay. But I will surely try it myself and post it soon.

  23. I wait for your recipe mam. I will tell you what all mistakes i made and how was the outcome. through lots of books and recipe sites, i used to prepare rasagolla. when i prepare the rasagolla for 15mins, it was spongy outside, when i cut and see, it looks like not cooked inside. some sites telling asking to close while cooking, some says partially close and some says not to close and cook it for 15-20mins. when i cook more time, it was spongy first, then becoming harder. when v close and cook, its becoming like a ball, then switch off the flame, it get reduced in size and not like store bought one too. AdyarAnandha bavan rasagolla superb one.I’m waiting for your recipe. You are the right person to teach me properly. Your recipe writing gives the detailed picture. Eagerly waiting for this blog….

  24. Venessa Reddy

    Happy Karthigai Deepam Kamala.

  25. 3500kg ghee procured from gandhigram and 1000 meters cloth is from
    tiruppur to make thick wick.for tiruvannamalai deepam on 27th nov2012.vekatraman

  26. Happy Karthigai Deepam to my all friends

  27. balasubramanyam c

    happy greetings on the occassion of karthikai deepam

  28. Happy karthigai deepam mam.i am a regular visitor of your blog.great recipes.

  29. ur kolams are nice thanks

  30. Thank you for the description of the festival and the prasadam to be prepared. Dec 6 is my daughter’s birthday as well. May Lord Muruga bless us all.!

  31. Pingback: Milagu Adai - Kamala's Corner

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