We celebrate aadi 18 every year by making pooja near the water tank and tying sacred yellow threads, we usually tie it around our wrist but it is said that married women tie around their neck.Other than that we don’t have the custom of making any special lunch menu for aadi 18 but this year I wanted to post a traditional aadi 18 lunch menu but totally forgot about the festival coming around.Yesterday morning when I was checking mittus calendar saw the holiday for aadi perukku on Monday..only then I realised Aadi 18 festival is coming Monday(Aug 3 2015).Mittu had a holiday yesterday so thought this is the right day for me to get into action….So far I haven’t cooked such a elaborate variety rice lunch menu all my self (except for the regular meals with payasam vada) so this is sure a achievement for me…It actually looks elaborate but it was easy as once rice is done then 4 rice varieties gets done in no time..So this is the lunch menu I prepared yesterday Coconut Rice,Lemon Rice,Sweet Pongal,Tamarind Rice,Curd Rice,Payasam,Medu Vadai and Appalam.

Only yesterday, I realised my capability to manage such lunch menus single handedly…..It was sure a tiring day but was happy and content after I finished the lunch menu and clicked it.Even the vadas came out perfect inspite of me rushing with other items and house chores…Yayyy!!

Aadi perukku also known as as Aadi 18 is a Hindu Tamil festival celebrated on the 18th day of the Tamil month of Adi which genrally falls mid-July to mid-August. The festival pays tribute to water’s life-sustaining properties. For the blessing of mankind with peace, prosperity and happiness, nature worship in the form of Amman deities are organized to shower Nature’s bountiful grace on human beings.It is also known as Pathinettam perukku and ‘perukku’ means ‘rising.’ The festival coincides with the annual freshes of the rivers and to pay tribute to water’s life-sustaining properties. It is celebrated near river basins, water tanks, lakes and wells etc. of Tamil Nadu when the water level in the rises significantly heralding the onset of Monsoon.
Mulaipari and Adiperukku:
Mulaipari (Sprouting or Germination of Nine Grains or Navadhanyam in a basket or clay mud pots) is a very important ritual which takes place at almost every village Goddess celebration. In its most original form, it is an exclusively women’s ritual and is of great importance for the whole village. The participants of the processions carry earthen pots with grown grains (nine different types of grains) inside on their heads and walk towards a river where the content is dissolved. The procession is accompanied by Amman. The ritual is very elaborate. Before the procession starts, special songs and dances ( Kummi Pattu, Kummi ) are performed. The original meaning of the ritual performance is a request to the village Goddess for rain and fertility of land, in order to secure a rich harvest.