Festival of St Raphael (Malakhayude Perunnal )
The Ollur Church is one of the wealthiest in the whole of Kerala. Feast of Saint Raphael, Ollur, the Archangel, is the most important festival of Ollur church falling on 23 and 24 October of each year.
The festival was started in 1837. Another festival is in honor of Saint Sebastian in the month of January and is the second major festival in the parish. Also, Ollur parish celebrates around 73 feasts and festivals in the calendar year. The Feast of Saint Raphael or MalakhayudePerunnal is an annual festival held in Ollur. It draws thousands of pilgrims. The Ollur forane church, founded in 1718 and dedicated to St Anthony, also houses a famous Shrine of Raphael the Archangel. This is one of the oldest churches built in 18th-century Kerala. The festival starts with the hoisting of the ceremonial flag on 15 October to mark the beginning of the celebrations in the church compound. It is one of half a dozen Christian festivals listed by Kerala Tourism as among the attractions of the state.
Bangle (Vala) procession
Festival related and liturgical processions in Malabar are of at least four kinds: certain pradakshinams or processions starting near the altar end at the mukhamandapam or portico of the church, many others, importantly, enter the courtyard and go round the rock cross, others go round the church, still others wind along the valley-roads surrounding the church-hill, commencing and concluding at the foot of the rock-cross.
In the Ollur church we have processions of all these classes. But the most important procession is in connection with this festival of St. Raphael the Archangel. (True, the procession of St. Sebastian goes to many more areas than the Angel’s procession which is restricted to the streets or angadies demarcated by the four bridges.) The main attraction of the festival is the Vala (Bangle) procession which is coming from the six zones of Ollur parish on 23 October. These Valas will conclude at the foot of the rock-cross of the church. The bangle processions are very attractive by glittering chariot, multicoloured Muthukkudas (silk Umbrellas),the many types of Vadyams and Melams, the decorated Roopakkudus carrying the statues of the four angels Saint Raphael, Saint Michael, Saint Gabriel, and the Guardian Angel are some of the attractions of the great bangle procession. The Vedikkettu or fireworks, the hawkers and vendors, the largescale agape or Oottu, are other interesting features of the festival.