Kerala Temple Festivals are best known for their color and grandeur. The most colorful temple festivals of Kerala, Thrissur Pooram, attract thousands of devotees and spectators from all part of the state and India.

Thrissur Pooram festival is celebrated in Medom (April-May) and consists of processions of rich caparisoned elephants from various neighbouring temples to the Vadakunnatha Temple. The most notable processions are those from the Krishna Temple at Thiruvambadi and the Devi Temple at Paramekkavu, both situated within the town itself.

Shaktan Thampuran, the Maharaja of erstwhile Kochi state, introduced Thrissur Pooram. The Pooram festival is also well known for its magnificent display of fireworks. Two rival groups representing the two divisions of Trissur, Paramekavu and Thiruvambadi display fireworks with royal grandeur. Each group is allowed to display a maximum of fifteen elephants and all efforts are made by both the parties to secure the best elephants in South India and the most artistic parasols, several kinds of which are raised on the elephant during the display. Each party to excel the other does the commissioning of elephants and parasols in the utmost secrecy. Beginning in the early hours in the morning, the celebrations of this Kerala Temple Festival last till the break of dawn, the next day. Thrissur Pooram is still considered as the major Kerala Temple Festival in south India.

Among the rival groups participating in this Kerala Temple Festival, the most important ones are those from Paramekkavu and Thiruvambadi temples. At the close of the Pooram both these groups enter the temple from the western gates and come out through the southern gate to stand in a row, face to face, one from the round and other from the Municipal Office Road. This spectacle of the Kerala Temple Festival is highly enchanting. Although this grand festival is known as Trissur Pooram, it is in fact the end of the eight days Utsavam Festival of nine temples.

The procession of the Thiruvambadi Pooram to the grounds of Vadakkunnatha Temple and back is not only significant in the history of Kerala, but also quite refreshing. The marvelous as well as magical effect of the Panchavadyam, a combination of five percussion and wind instruments is to be enjoyed thoroughly. Kerala Temple Festivals are very exciting events for the inhabitants of the state.