Navrathri

Navarathri or Dussera festival is celebrated in the month of purattasi. This festival seems to have been introduced to Tamil Nadu by the Mysore rulers. It is celebrated mostly in the towns or in places connected with kings and chieftains. Observance of Navarathri and exhibition of dolls in their wide variety and colour and costumes is confined to the upper strata of society. The common folk in the villages celebrate the Puravai Eduppu or festival of horse dolls in the temples of Ayyanar in the summer. This festival of dolls has helped to sustain the amazing skill at clay doll-making in Tamil Nadu. The raw materials used are clay, papier-mache and paints.