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In only a few villages of northern Kerala can you see the ritual of the ancient tribal cult of Theyyam. We arrived at a small open air Temple at about 4:30 in the afternoon. There was no stage or curtain or other theatrical trappings. A man at one end of the space was sitting on the floor of a tiny room applying makeup. Musicians gathered at the other end and began to drum.

Villagers, mostly women, entered and took seats along one side. When the "priest" was fully made up and costumed he came out and performed rituals involving rice, flowers, banana leaves, incense and ghee.

Then he began to dance around a small, low altar to the increasingly frenetic beat of drums and the shrieking of a double-reed flute. He was entering into a trance-like state where he would actually become a God, in this case Krishna in the form of a hunter. This was all happening while buses, trucks, vendors and pedestrians were unconcernedly going about their business just outside the space. Click below to hear the music of