Makaravilakku 2027

About Makaravilakku

Makaravilakku is the evening festival at the Sabarimala Ayyappa temple in Kerala on Makara Sankranti, the first day of the Malayalam month of Makaram. In 2027 it falls on Thursday, 14 January 2027. Pilgrims who have kept the 41-day vratham watch the deity adorned with the Thiruvabharanam ornaments, then turn to the hill of Ponnambalamedu, where a flame appears three times after the evening lamp ritual.

Sabarimala is a hill shrine to Ayyappa, also called Dharma Sastha, at about 1,260 m inside the Periyar forest in Pathanamthitta district. It does not open every day. Pilgrims come in one long season from mid-November to mid-January, and Makaravilakku is the evening that closes it. Wikipedia puts the Makaravilakku crowd at about half a million, most of them from Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.

The season that leads to it

Most pilgrims do not just turn up. They keep a mandala vratham, a 41-day vow, and the whole season is built around it.

1. 1 Vrischikam (mid-November)
   The season opens

   The temple opens and many pilgrims put on the mala, a bead necklace, to begin the 41-day vow.

2. The 41 days
   The vratham

   Vegetarian food, no alcohol, celibacy, no cutting of hair or nails, baths twice a day, plain black or blue clothes, and no anger or bad language.

3. 11 Dhanu (late December)
   Mandala Pooja

   The end of the 41-day mandala. The temple then shuts for a few days.

4. About 30 December
   Reopening

   The temple opens again for the Makaravilakku period.

5. 1 Makaram (mid-January)
   Makaravilakku

   The ornaments arrive, the evening lamp is offered, and the flame appears on Ponnambalamedu.

6. About a week later
   Closing

   The temple closes for the season. In 2023 it shut on 20 January.

Before they set out, pilgrims pack the irumudi, a two-part cloth bundle carried on the head. One side holds offerings for the deity, including a coconut filled with ghee. Only those carrying an irumudi may climb the pathinettam padi, the 18 sacred steps to the sanctum. Others use a separate gate.

Many pilgrims also stop at Erumely on the way, at a mosque dedicated to Vavar, a Muslim saint who, as tradition tells it, was a companion of Ayyappa. A shrine to Vavar stands at Sabarimala itself.

What happens on the evening

The day turns on the Thiruvabharanam, the sacred ornaments of the deity. They are kept at the Srambickal palace of the Pandalam royal family, whom tradition links to Ayyappa's childhood. Three days before Makaravilakku they are moved to the Valiyakoickal Sastha temple in Pandalam, placed in wooden boxes, and carried to Sabarimala on foot by a team of bearers, stopping at temples along the way.

The procession reaches the shrine in the early evening. The tantri, the hereditary head priest, and the melsanthi adorn the idol with the ornaments, and the doors open for the deeparadhana, the waving of lamps. Soon after, the crowd turns east towards Ponnambalamedu, a hilltop about 8 km away, and a flame appears there three times. In 2023 it was seen at about 6.50 pm. Later that night the priests perform the Makara Sankrama pooja at the moment the sun enters Makaram.

The light on the hill and the star

Two names get mixed up, and the difference matters to devotees.

Makaravilakku is the lamp, or flame, seen on Ponnambalamedu. Makara Jyothi is the star that devotees see rising over the hill at the same time. Some writers identify it with Sirius.

In January 2011, after 102 pilgrims died in a stampede while returning from viewing the light, the question of the flame came to court. The Travancore Devaswom Board, which runs the temple, said publicly and told the Kerala High Court that the flame on Ponnambalamedu is lit by people, while the Makara Jyothi is a star. The senior tantri, Kandararu Maheswararu, had already said that the Makara Jyothi is the star and not the light on the hill. News reports describe the lighting as a practice first kept by tribal families who lived near the hill, continued by the Devaswom Board with the forest department and the state government.

For devotees this has not lessened the evening. Kummanam Rajasekharan, then general secretary of the Hindu Aikya Vedi, said that whether the light is lit by hand or not, it holds a religious place in the minds of believers. Treat it that way when you write.

How the date is set

Makaravilakku falls on Makara Sankranti, when the sun moves from Dhanu into Makaram, which is 1 Makaram in the Malayalam calendar. The same solar moment gives Makar Sankranti across India and Pongal in Tamil Nadu.

The calendar can split the date in a year when the sun's transit comes late in the evening. Almanacs that follow Kerala's rule then move 1 Makaram to the next day. Sabarimala holds the deeparadhana in the evening and the Sankrama pooja at the transit itself, so it may keep the earlier date. In 2023 the transit came at about 8.57 pm on 14 January; Drik Panchang listed Makaravilakku on 15 January, but it was held at Sabarimala on 14 January. The Devaswom Board's notice is the date to go by.

How to wish someone on Makaravilakku

Many Ayyappa devotees spend weeks in a strict vow before this day, so a wish should honour the discipline, not just the event: the fast, the black dress, the climb, the irumudi on the head. "Swamiye Saranam Ayyappa" is the greeting devotees use with each other and is welcome from anyone. Keep it devotional. Pray for a safe climb and a safe journey home, since crowds are huge. Don't make jokes about the beard or the diet, and don't press a devotee on whether the light on the hill is lit by people.

Write a few lines in your own words, pick a design and share it as one link on WhatsApp, Instagram or anywhere else. They open an animated card made just for them, with no app and no sign-up.

Language tip: English, Malayalam + Tamil, Telugu, Kannada.

When is Makaravilakku in each year?

Makaravilakku is set by the Malayalam solar (Kollam era) calendar, so it falls on a different date each year.

Frequently asked questions