History / Story of the Festival
Devotees of Muthalaikulam Karuppusamy (guardian deity), have adopted the practice of buying baby fishes and leaving them in the village tank to thrive. They consider the growth and multiplication of these fishes to be a sign of prosperity for their village. Once the agricultural cycle is complete, the devotees participate in the fishing festival in which they get together as a community to catch the fishes in the dried up village tank and give them to their descendants. They believe that it is their right to catch and eat these fishes for it is equivalent to consuming God's sacred offering or 'prasadam'.
Every year in the months of Vaikasi and Aani, the villagers hold a meeting to decide the particulars of the fishing festival and this information is announced to the surrounding villages by putting up banners and posters. On the first day of the festival, a play is usually performed on the stage. Traditional village snacks are sold from dawn till dusk. People from all over Tamil Nadu arrive in trucks, cars, vans etc. and gather in the village the night before the fishing festival. On the day of the festival, at five in the morning, the first aerial fire work is launched. Two more sky shorts are fired before the break of dawn indicating the start of the festival. Following this, the people on the shore descend into the village tank and catch the fishes. The fishes are then given to their respective relatives.
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