Thiruvadarai

Tomorrow is Thiruvadarai, a festival in the Southern parts of India. Anyone familiar with the festival, first recollects the kali and the multi-thaan kuzhambu that is made with this. It is unspoken fact that, everyone eats the kali (which is a pretty bland sweet kichdi kind of rice-dish) only for the specatucular kuzhambu that is made along with this. Anyway, I thought I would give some salient facts about this festival here:

Thiruvadarai comes from the name of the star Arudra. This is one of two stars, which have the salutation Thiru in front of it (the other is Thiruvonam). Maybe the salutation is given because, ancient astronomical texts say that this star is H.U.G.E (apparently 2 and one half crore times bigger than the sun).
This festival is attributed to Lord Shiva - especially Nataraja. It is believed that the cosmic dance performed by Lord Nataraja is manifested in the light shown by this star.(Thiruvonam is attributed for Lord Vishnu).
It is famous for its kali (see recipe here ) and the ultimate ezhu thaan (7 vegetables) kuzhambu (see recipe here ).
Special abhishekam performed in Chidamabaram for Lord Nataraja.
It happens to be the birthday of Saint Manickavasagar, and is celebrated at Thiruperundurai.
In Sirgazhi (aka Sirkali), it is known for the birth anniversary of Saint Thiru Gnana Sambandar, who as a baby was breast-fed by the Goddess Parvati herself.

Now that you know all the facts, go and enjoy the kali-kuzhambu deadly combination :-) Happy Thiruvadarai all. Note: This year, Thiruvadarai happens to be on Jan 10. It may fall on nearby dates on different years of the Gregorian Calender. In the Tamil Calendar, it is on the thirvadarai nakshatram in the margazhi maasam. Info gleaned from: bhattar.com