KOCHI: All remaining year-end celebrations linked to Cochin Carnival have been cancelled, including the immensely popular burning of Pappanji, as the country observes seven days of mourning to honour Manmohan Singh.
“All programmes directly being held by the Cochin Carnival Committee are cancelled following the observation of seven days of national mourning in honour of former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh,” committee chairperson K Meera, who is also the Fort Kochi sub-collector, said.
This includes the burning of Pappanji at Fort Kochi Parade Ground on the midnight of New Year’s Eve, and the Carnival Rally from Veli Ground to Parade Ground, the two key attractions of Cochin Carnival.
A notable highlight of Cochin Carnival, a spectacle that spans the last two weeks of December, was the burning of Pappanji, an effigy of an old man, symbolising the passing year. At the stroke of midnight on December 31, the effigy is torched amid traditional music and fireworks to ring in the New Year. “This time, we had decided to erect a 50ft-tall Pappanji at Parade Ground. And the work had started. But the decision was made in the meeting held this evening in the wake of the official mourning,” a carnival committee member said.
However, the torching of the 35ft-tall Pappanji being put up at Veli Ground by the Gala de Fort Kochi club will go on as scheduled. The HC, the other day, cleared the event, subject to conditions, after club members moved the court against a police direction to dismantle the structure, citing security reasons. The court directed organisers to install safety barricades around the effigy to prevent any untoward incident.
This year marks the 41st edition of Cochin Carnival. The two-week-long annual event was started in 1984 to celebrate UN’s declaration of 1985 as the International Year of the Youth.