Thrissur Pooram is an annual Hindu temple festival held in Kerala, India. It is held at the Vadakkunnathan Temple in Thrissur every year on the Pooram day- the day when the moon rises with the Pooram star  in the Malayalam Calendar month of Medam. It is the largest and most famous of all Poorams.

Thrissur Pooram was the brain child of Raja Rama Varma or known as Sakthan Thampuran, the Maharaja of Cochin (1790–1805). Before the start of Thrissur Pooram, the largest temple festival in Kerala was the one-day festival held at Aarattupuzha knows as Arattupuzha Pooram. Temples in and around City of Thrissur were regular participants. One day because of incessant rains, they were late for the Arattupuzha Pooram and were denied access to the Pooram procession.  Felt embarrassed by the denial, the temples went to the Sakthan Thampuran and told their story. So in 1798, he unified the 10 temples situated around Vadakkunnathan Temple and organised the celebration of Thrissur Pooram as a mass festival. He invited temples with their deities to City of Thrissur to pay obeisance to Lord Vadakkunnathan, the presiding deity of the Vadakkunnathan Temple.

The pooram starts at the time of Kanimangalam sasthavu ezhunnellippu in the early morning and followed by the ezhunnellippu of other six temples. One of the major event in Thrissur pooram is “Madathil varavu”- is a panchavadhyam melam, participating more than 200 artists, consists of Thimila, Madhalam, Trumpet, Cymbal and Edakka (Different types of instruments). At 2’ O clock, inside the vadakkumnathan temple starts the famous
Ilanjithara melam – a type of melam consists of drum, trumpets, pipe and cymbal.The pooram has a good collection of more than 40 elephants decorated with Nettipattam (decorative golden headdress), strikingly crafted Kolam, decorative bells, ornaments and the umbrellas, venchamaram, and alavattam are awesome and it enrich the beauty of elephants and pooram. At the end of the pooram, after the Ilanjithara melam, both Paramekkavu and
Thiruvambadi groups enter the temple through the western gate and come out through the southern gate and array themselves, face to face in distant places. The two groups in the presence of melam, exchange colourful and crafted umbrellas competitively at the top of the elephants – called Kudamattom, which is eye catching attraction of the pooram. Later all Poorams conclude at Nilapaduthara near western goupuram of Vadakkunnathan Temple.
The notable feature of the pooram is its secular nature. All other communities actively participate and make their prominent role in each and  every part of the festival. Most of the pandal works are crafted by Muslim community.

The materials for the umbrellas for ‘Kudamattom’ are offered by the churches and their members. It is a good sign of secularism which is disintegrating nowadays.

This time Thrissur Pooram will be conducted on 5th May 2017.