With hearths lined up across the city, and other arrangements completed by the authorities, the city is all set to offer the Attukal Pongala.
The Pongala, marking the culmination of the 10-day-long annual festival at the Attukal Bhagavathy temple, will be initiated by the Melshanthi (Chief Priest), who will light the hearth inside the sanctum sanctorum at 10.45 a.m. The sanctification (Nivedyam) ceremony, which is to be conducted by around 250 priests, will take place at 2.15 p.m.
Complementing the divine atmosphere of the sanctification will be an aerial shower of flowers. Special arrangements were made to open the Thiruvananthapuram airport runway, presently closed for maintenance, for the shower, through the intervention of Shashi Tharoor, MP, and Airport Advisory Committee chairman.
The Thalappoli ceremonyill also take place on Saturday.
Two junior health inspectors and six junior public health nurses will be stationed at the control room at Attukal.
The camps, which will function from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday, were inaugurated by Health Minister K.K. Shylaja on Friday.
In order to ensure ease of commute for the devotees, the City police have promised rewards for three autorickshaw drivers providing commendable services.
In a departure from the usual norm of granting a full-day holiday for government offices and educational institutions on the eve of the Pongala, no holiday has been granted to government employees this year.
Saturday has been declared a holiday for all financial institutions functioning within the city limits as per the Negotiable Instruments Act.
A total of 871 boys, observing strict penance as part of the Kuthiyottam ritual, will accompany the deity on the procession to the Manacaud Sastha temple on the night of the Pongala.
