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Theyyam or Theyattam is a religious ritual, a unique combination of dance, music, masks, ritual face- and bodypainting and sacrifices, including many aspects of a tribal culture.
Trance and the belief, that the dancer in the mask of the deity, actuallly is the god or goddess, coming, from a special point of the ritual on, iare playing a main role in Theyyam.
In some way Theyyam is ãolder than Hinduism, or more exactly the vedic or brahmanic tradition of Hinduism, and can be traced back to local prevedic tribal traditions, that are nowadays completely integrated into Hinduism. The region, where Theyyam is popular still practised is North-Malabar, the 2 northern districts of Kerala ( Kannur and Kasaragod ) and the northern end of the Kozhikode District, just south of Kannur, as well as in the border
region between Kerala and Karnataka. In the very south of Karnataka, the region known as Tulu Nadu or Dakshina Kannada, Butha Kola is practised, a ritual very similar to Theyyam. While working on this topic for several years, I got a collection of more than 2000 photographs - analog in the beginning, but the majority as digital files. Here a few of them ãdeveloped as black & white.
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