Elders held the hands of small children and helped them trace out their first letters of the alphabet on plates of rice grains as Kerala celebrated the festival of ‘Vidyarambham’ or initiation into world of letters on Sunday.
The function on Vijayadashami Day was held in temples by cultural organisations, clubs, schools and even media establishments across the state. Over the years, this event has undergone drastic changes and now even Christian Churches are joining in and initiating small children of their community into learning with the annual ritualistic writing of alphabets.

From early morning, large numbers of children escorted by their parents visited Saraswathi temples and literary institutions, where eminent litterateurs, teachers and even politicians held the hands of the kids and helped them write Malayalam alphabets on a plate of rice. Thereafter, the ‘teacher’, using a gold ring, ‘wrote’ a Malayalam word on the tongue of the child. While Hindu children write “Hari Sree Ganapathaye Namaha”, Christians write “Sree Yesu Mishihaye Namaha.”

The event was celebrated in a few churches in Kochi too. The St George Orthodox Church here was the first to hold the event four years back in the church premises. But following criticism from a section of the laity, the church held the event at a day-care centre run by it, away from the church premises.

“This year too, the function was held at a day-care centre. Around 30 children took part under the guidance of our priests,” said a church spokesperson. Media organisations have also been participating in a big way.
Leading Malayalam newspapers held the event at their premises.

More than 5,000 children participated in an event at Thunachan Paramabu, near Trissur, the home of Malayalam litterateur Thunchathu Ezhuthachan.