Karaikal Carnival begins with a grand cultural procession

The three-day annual Karaikal Carnival began on Friday with a colourful cultural procession that drew more than 2,000 participants and a large turnout of residents and tourists in Karaikal.

The carnival and fruit-and-vegetable exhibition are being jointly organised by the Tourism, Art and Culture, and Farmers’ Welfare departments of the Government of Puducherry. As part of the inauguration, a grand cultural procession taken out from the Kovilipattu Ezhaimariyamman temple area.

The procession was flagged off by Puducherry Tourism Minister P.R.N. Thirumurugan, MLAs A.M.H. Nazim and Naga Thiyagarajan, and Karaikal Collector A.S.P.S. Ravi Prakash.

Over 40 tableaux presented by schools and colleges, involving over 1,000 students, showcased a range of folk art forms, including bommalattam, villupattu, karagattam, thappattam, and mayilattam. Police band performances and cultural troupes from neighbouring States added to the festivities.

Tableaux by various government departments highlighted public welfare schemes while students staged awareness skits on social issues such as substance abuse. The procession passed through Bharathiar Road and Thomas Arul Veedhi before concluding at the Government Sports Stadium on V.O.C. Road, where the carnival formally began with music programmes and sports competitions.