Here's how the ritualistic artform Theyyam safeguarded the last of sacred groves

We were on a 7 days long self-driven journey through the Northern Malabar of Kerala for the expedition, ‘Reviving Sacred Groves and Tracing Theyyam, the Sentinel Artform,' organized by Cherish Expeditions.

Cherish Expeditions handpicked a bunch of storytellers who are conservationists and content creators to come together and work towards creating an impact by planting 100 species of RET trees.

Theyyam is an indigenous ritualistic art form performed mainly in the sacred groves of the Northern Malabar of Kerala where the belief goes that the residing deities are summoned to the performing man’s body. Our ancestors have been safeguarding sacred groves in the religious belief that their deity resides in the groves. Thus groves nurtured Theyyam and Theyyam in return secured the groves from destruction so far. As modernity and urbanization came knocking, the sacred grove’s residing deities were carefully shifted to temples, leaving the sacred groves for degradation. Eventually, we started losing sacred groves, which are our last refuge for biodiversity.

“I prepare my body for God to possess over me through strict abstinence, avoiding eating non-veg and performing the daily prayer rituals for 41 days,” says Krishnan, the Theyyam practitioner. Theyyam might be an art form for the outsider, but it is a traditional ritual passed over generations for the artist himself and the devotees.

Sacred groves are small rainforests deeply intercoiled with religious beliefs protected from urbanization with superstitious beliefs and myths. The disappearance of sacred groves started giving existential threat to Theyyam, making the Theyyam artists vulnerable to leave the art form and their lifestyle. The expedition aimed to support the Theyyam artist’s community while tracing the footprints of Theyyam, which is a beautiful amalgamation of myth, belief, and art form.

The mission of the expeditions was to revive the degrading sacred groves by participating in the GOD (Grow Our Dying) tree campaign by planting RET (Rare Endemic and Threatened) tree species along with MSSBG, which also falls under the 1trillion tree campaign by the World Economic Forum. The whole project focuses on achieving the Sustainable Development Goals(SDG) 15 which is Life on Land. The tree campaign has high relevance in the context of the UN decade (2021-2030) on Eco-restoration.