Becoming the Thayyam Goddess
Kerala, India 2009 A Theyyam ceremony somewhere near Mangalore
We spent hours and hours at different temples in the region, watching both the preparations for and the actual ceremony of the Theyyam. Theyyam is a ritual performed only in this region by men who are descended from families who have passed on the ability to become a goddess or god. They go into a trance before the ceremony and in the photo above the ‘priest’ has time to meditate as his makeup is being applied. He seemed to be unaware of his surroundings.
“Don’t smudge my makeup.”
The costume for Theyyam is composed of many pieces; some, made of palm leaf, must be sewn together while Theyyam has his makeup applied. Here Theyyam checks to be sure the costume is correct. Theyyam does a lot of hopping and jumping and twirling. He must be sure not to lose any part of his dress.
Theyyam in complete costume
Theyyam is in a twirl here, but it was a sedate sort of twirl. His breast-plate stands out from his chest…he’s not concerned…it’s the aura that’s important. The men did not act in a feminine manner. If you saw the ceremony, and no one told you that they were ‘goddesses’, you probably wouldn’t think of it. Once you did think of it, though, you wouldn’t soon get it out of your mind.
Photographing a ceremony like this ranges from shooting fish in a barrel to the hell of using your flash. The key thing is to be in the right place at the right time and not having someone step in front of you. I remember watching a Theyyam get dressed and waiting in that spot for a couple of hours unaware that he had gone to another area to perform. I had been afraid to leave my ‘perfect’ viewpoint. Don’t do that is my advice. The good thing was that we went to Theyyam ceremonies for several days running and it was inevitable that we would get some good photos. At the same time, we had hundreds if not thousands of similar variations of the same photo when we got back home.