Kochi Kochi (), also known as Cochin ( ) ( the official name until 1996) is a major port city on the Malabar Coast of India bordering the Laccadive Sea, which is a part of the Arabian Sea. It is part of the district of Ernakulam in the state of K ...

, formerly known as Cochin, is a city and port in the

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

n state of

Kerala Kerala ( ; ) is a state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile regions of Cochin, Malabar, South ...

. The

culture Culture () is an umbrella term which encompasses the social behavior, institutions, and norms found in human societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, customs, capabilities, and habits of the individuals in these groups.Tyl ...

of the city can be termed as predominantly

South India South India, also known as Dakshina Bharata or Peninsular India, consists of the peninsular southern part of India. It encompasses the Indian states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and Telangana, as well as the union territo ...

n. Residents of Kochi are known as Kochiites; they are an important part of the South Indian weltanschauung. Being the largest city in Kerala, the culture of Kochi is significantly more cosmopolitan than the rest of the state. The city is cosmopolitan in many ways, due to its exposure to foreign tourists. Nightlife is scarce and the city shuts down post 10pm, however there are a few women-friendly bars and late night cafes present in the city, such as Mezzo in Avenue Regent (last call 10:45PM) and Tonico cafe (shuts down at 2:00AM).

Historical influences

Kochi's culture was enriched by successive waves of migration over the course of several millennia. The city once had a large Jewish community that figured prominently in Kochi's business and economic strata. Known as the ''Malabar Yehuden''—and now increasingly as

Cochin Jews Cochin Jews (also known as Malabar Jews or Kochinim, from ) are the oldest group of Jews in India, with roots that are claimed to date back to the time of King Solomon. The Cochin Jews settled in the Kingdom of Cochin in South India, now pa ...

—the community has now almost entirely migrated to

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

and the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. Also Kochi is the economic and financial capital of the state and is slowly turning into one of the commercial cities of India. Syrian Orthodoxy was the sole Christian tradition in Kochi for a long time. However, the Portuguese arrival in the 16th century, led to

Roman Catholicism The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwide . It is am ...

being a dominant force.

Contemporary culture

Kochi has a diverse, multicultural, and secular community consisting of

Hindu Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism.Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...

Christians Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...

Jews Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

Muslim Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...

Jain Jainism ( ), also known as Jain Dharma, is an Indian religion. Jainism traces its spiritual ideas and history through the succession of twenty-four tirthankaras (supreme preachers of ''Dharma''), with the first in the current time cycle being ...

Sikh Sikhs ( or ; pa, ਸਿੱਖ, ' ) are people who adhere to Sikhism, Sikhism (Sikhi), a Monotheism, monotheistic religion that originated in the late 15th century in the Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent, based on the revelation of Gu ...

s, Konkanis and

Buddhist Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and ...

s among other denominations. Today, the population of the city is a mix of people from all parts of Kerala and most of India. The city's pan-Indian nature is highlighted by the substantial presence of various ethnic communities from different parts of the country. The presence of the headquarters of the Southern Naval Command adds to the cosmopolitan nature of the city. The people are also increasingly fashion-conscious, often deviating from the traditional Kerala wear to western

casual clothing Casual wear (or casual attire or clothing) is a Western dress code that is relaxed, occasional, spontaneous and suited for everyday use. Casual wear became popular in the Western world following the counterculture of the 1960s. When emphasisi ...

. Kochi has also played host to a number of high-profile fashion shows, including ones sponsored by

Fashion Television ''FashionTelevision'', also known as ''FT'', is a Canadian-produced special interest show focusing on fashion. The show, created by Jay Levine in 1985, was last hosted by Jeanne Beker. Production of the broadcast ended on April 11, 2012. The pr ...

. Kochi is also the venue of the annual Cochin Flower Show

Cuisine

Kochiites generally partake of Keralite cuisine, which is generally characterised by an abundance of

coconut The coconut tree (''Cocos nucifera'') is a member of the palm tree family ( Arecaceae) and the only living species of the genus ''Cocos''. The term "coconut" (or the archaic "cocoanut") can refer to the whole coconut palm, the seed, or the ...

and spices. Other

n cuisines and

Chinese cuisine Chinese cuisine encompasses the numerous cuisines originating from China, as well as overseas cuisines created by the Chinese diaspora. Because of the Chinese diaspora and historical power of the country, Chinese cuisine has influenced many ot ...

are popular.

Fast food Fast food is a type of mass-produced food designed for commercial resale, with a strong priority placed on speed of service. It is a commercial term, limited to food sold in a restaurant or store with frozen, preheated or precooked ingredien ...

culture is very prominent; a large number of fast food outlets include those operated by the multinational conglomerates like

Pizza Hut Pizza Hut is an American multinational restaurant chain and international franchise founded in 1958 in Wichita, Kansas by Dan and Frank Carney. They serve their signature pan pizza and other dishes including pasta, breadsticks and dessert at d ...

, Marrybrown,

KFC KFC (Kentucky Fried Chicken) is an American fast food restaurant chain headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky, that specializes in fried chicken. It is the world's second-largest restaurant chain (as measured by sales) after McDonald's, with 2 ...

McDonald's McDonald's Corporation is an American Multinational corporation, multinational fast food chain store, chain, founded in 1940 as a restaurant operated by Richard and Maurice McDonald, in San Bernardino, California, United States. They rechri ...

, Chic King, and

Dominos Dominoes is a family of tile-based games played with gaming pieces, commonly known as dominoes. Each domino is a rectangular tile, usually with a line dividing its face into two square ''ends''. Each end is marked with a number of spots (also ca ...

North India North India is a loosely defined region consisting of the northern part of India. The dominant geographical features of North India are the Indo-Gangetic Plain and the Himalayas, which demarcate the region from the Tibetan Plateau and Central ...

n and Continental cuisines are becoming increasingly popular.

Festivals

Keeping up with its multi-ethnic diaspora, Kochi celebrates traditional Kerala festivals like Onam and Vishu along with

n festivals like

Holi Holi (), also known as the Festival of Colours, the Festival of Spring, and the Festival of Love,The New Oxford Dictionary of English (1998) p. 874 "Holi /'həʊli:/ noun a Hindu spring festival ...". is an ancient Hindu religious festival ...

and

Diwali Diwali (), Dewali, Divali, or Deepavali ( IAST: ''dīpāvalī''), also known as the Festival of Lights, related to Jain Diwali, Bandi Chhor Divas, Tihar, Swanti, Sohrai, and Bandna, is a religious celebration in Indian religions. It is ...

with great fervour. Christian and Islamic festivals like

Christmas Christmas is an annual festival commemorating Nativity of Jesus, the birth of Jesus, Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people Observance of Christmas by country, around t ...

Easter Easter,Traditional names for the feast in English are "Easter Day", as in the '' Book of Common Prayer''; "Easter Sunday", used by James Ussher''The Whole Works of the Most Rev. James Ussher, Volume 4'') and Samuel Pepys''The Diary of Samuel ...

Eid ul-Fitr , nickname = Festival of Breaking the Fast, Lesser Eid, Sweet Eid, Sugar Feast , observedby = Muslims , type = Islamic , longtype = Islamic , significance = Commemoration to mark the end of fasting in Ramadan , dat ...

Milad-e-sherif Mawlid, Mawlid an-Nabi ash-Sharif or Eid Milad un Nabi ( ar, المولد النبوي, translit=mawlid an-nabawī, lit=Birth of the Prophet, sometimes simply called in Varieties of Arabic, colloquial Arabic , , among other vernacular pronuncia ...

, etc. are also celebrated. A merry making feast called the

Cochin Carnival Cochin Carnival is an entertainment event held every year in the last week of December at Fort Kochi in the city of Kochi, Kerala. This event is held mostly during the last two weeks of December and finally ends on 1 January. It is officially in ...

is celebrated at

Fort Kochi Fort Kochi, Fort Cochin in English, Cochim de Baixo ("Lower Kochi") in Cochin Portuguese creole, is a neighbourhood of Cochin (Kochi) city in Kerala, India. Fort Kochi takes its name from the Fort Manuel of Cochin, the first European fort ...

every year during the last ten days of December. Various unique games,

dirt bike The six main types of motorcycles are generally recognized as ''standard'', ''cruiser'', ''touring'', ''sports'', ''off-road'', and ''dual-purpose''. ''Sport touring'' is sometimes recognized as a seventh category or integrated with the ''touring' ...

races,

beach volleyball Beach volleyball is a team sport played by two teams of two or more players on a sand court divided by a net. Similar to indoor volleyball, the objective of the game is to send the ball over the net and to ground it on the opponent's side of the ...

and fireworks display are held as part of the festivities. The carnival is celebrated as a continuity of the Portuguese

New Year New Year is the time or day currently at which a new calendar year begins and the calendar's year count increments by one. Many cultures celebrate the event in some manner. In the Gregorian calendar, the most widely used calendar system to ...

revelry held here during the colonial days. Kochi is also the permanent venue of the

India International Boat show India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

, the India International Aqua show and the

Kochi International Book Festival The Kochi International Book Festival is an annual event conducted at the coastal city of Kochi, India, Kochi, Kerala, India. This festival is organized by the AntharashtraPusthakotsava Samithi, Kochi, a registered charitable society established ...

Cinema, arts and literature

Kochi was home to some of the most influential figures in Malayalam literature, including

Changampuzha Krishna Pillai Changampuzha Krishna Pillai (Malayalam: ചങ്ങമ്പുഴ കൃഷ്ണപിള്ള; 10 October 1911 – 17 June 1948) was a celebrated Malayalam poet from Kerala, India, known for his elegy ''Ramanan'' (Malayalam: രമണന ...

Kesari Balakrishna Pillai Akathoot Balakrishna Pillai (1889–1960), better known as Kesari Balakrishna Pillai, was a Malayalam writer, art and literary critic and journalist, considered by many as one of the most influential thinkers of modern Kerala. He was the eponymous ...

G. Sankara Kurup G. Sankara Kurup, (3 June 1901 – 2 February 1978) also referred to as Mahakavi G (The Great Poet G), was an Indian poet, essayist and literary critic of Malayalam literature. Known as one of the greats of Malayalam poetry, he was the first r ...

, and

Vyloppilli Sreedhara Menon Kerala poet and Indian poet Vyloppilli Sreedhara Menon (11 May 1911 – 22 December 1985) (also written as Vailoppilli) was an Indian poet of Malayalam literature. Known for his works such as ''Kudiyozhikkal'', ''Kannikkoythu'' and '' Mambazham'' ...

. Changampuzha is popular for his bestseller, ''Ramanan'', written in the romantic tradition. Kochi is one of the nerve centres of Mollywood in the state. The scenic beauty, especially the Anglican appearance of places like

, makes it an important location for movie screening. There are over 20 cinema halls which screen movies in Malayalam, Tamil, English and Hindi. The Cochin International Film Festival (CIFF) is held in the city every year. The Durbar Hall Ground in the city plays host to numerous cultural events that happen in the city. The

Changampuzha Park The Changampuzha Park is a recreational park and a venue for various cultural activities in the city of Kochi, Kerala, India. Established in 1977, the park is situated at Edapally, the birthplace of the great poet Changampuzha Krishna Pillai, o ...

on the suburbs of the city is also a popular venue for various cultural activities and performances. Recently

Oberon Mall Oberon Mall is a shopping mall located in the Indian city of Kochi. The mall was opened formally on 2 March 2009, though it was launched in 2008. The cost of construction of the mall is about 1 billion. It is built on an area of across five flo ...

was inaugurated in Kochi at Edappally NH bypass road, which happens to be the second mall after the Bay Pride Mall at Marine Drive.

Lulu International Shopping Mall, Kochi LuLu Mall Kochi is a shopping mall located in Edappally, Kochi, Kerala. Spanning , it is one of the largest malls in India with a total built up area of and a retail space of . It contains nearly 300 outlets, including food courts, restaurants, ...

one of the biggest malls in India, is also in Cochin.

Sports and stadiums

Cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

and

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

are the most popular sports in the city. The

Jawaharlal Nehru International Stadium The Jawaharlal Nehru International Stadium, locally known as Kaloor Stadium, is a multi-purpose stadium in Kochi, Kerala, India. The stadium has a capacity of 60,000 spectators. For Indian Super League matches it is restricted to 39,000. The ...

in Kochi is one of the largest multi-use stadiums in

. The stadium is the home ground of the F C Cochin football club. It has a

seating capacity Seating capacity is the number of people who can be seated in a specific space, in terms of both the physical space available, and limitations set by law. Seating capacity can be used in the description of anything ranging from an automobile that ...

of 60,000 and is equipped with

floodlight A floodlight is a broad-beamed, high-intensity artificial light. They are often used to illuminate outdoor playing fields while an outdoor sports event is being held during low-light conditions. More focused kinds are often used as a stage ...

s for night play. The

Regional Sports Centre The Waterford Regional Sports Centre (or simply, the RSC) is part of Waterford Corporation's Municipal sporting facilities and home to Waterford F.C. of the League of Ireland. Waterford moved to the newly opened RSC from their former home, Kil ...

is an important centre of sporting activity in the city. The centre has an indoor stadium, and is equipped with facilities for sports like

tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball ...

badminton Badminton is a racquet sport played using racquets to hit a shuttlecock across a net. Although it may be played with larger teams, the most common forms of the game are "singles" (with one player per side) and "doubles" (with two players pe ...

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

, cricket, roller skating and

table tennis Table tennis, also known as ping-pong and whiff-whaff, is a sport in which two or four players hit a lightweight ball, also known as the ping-pong ball, back and forth across a table using small solid rackets. It takes place on a hard table div ...

. Other important stadiums include the B.R.Ambedkar Stadium, the Palace Oval Ground and the Maharajas College Grounds, where hockey and tennis are played.

Other prominent people

K. J. Yesudas Kattassery Joseph Yesudas (born 10 January 1940) is an Indian playback singer and musician who sings Indian classical, devotional and film songs. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest singers in the history of Indian Music and also as a ...

- singer. *

Abraham Barak Salem Abraham ben Barak Salem (1882 – 1967) was an Indian nationalist and Zionist, a lawyer and politician, and one of the most prominent Cochin Jews of the twentieth century. Popular by his epithet of "Jewish Gandhi", he was known as "Salem Kocha" ...

, Jewish Gandhi *

Sahodaran Ayyappan Kumbalathuparambu Ayyappan (August 21, 1889 – March 6, 1968), better identified as Sahodaran Ayyappan , was a social reformer, thinker, rationalist, journalist, and politician from Kerala, India. A vocal follower of Sree Narayana Guru, he was ...

, social reformer *

Pandit Karuppan Pandit Karuppan was a poet, dramatist, and reform movement, social reformer who lived in Kerala, India. Pandit Karuppan emerged from Ernakulam of Cochin State as a relentless crusader against untouchability and social evils. He was called ...

, social reformer * Sreeshanth, international cricketer *

Asin Asin Thottumkal (born 26 October 1985), known mononymously as Asin, is a former Indian actress who appeared predominantly in Tamil, Hindi and Telugu films. She is a trained Bharatanatyam dancer. She has received three Filmfare Awards. She beg ...

, model and actor * Revathi, actor. *

Cochin Haneefa Muhammed Haneefa (22 April 1951 – 2 February 2010), better known by his stage name Cochin Haneefa, was an Indian actor, film director, and screenwriter. He started his career in the 1970s mainly portraying villainous roles, before going on to ...

, actor *

Anand Jon Anand Jon Alexander (born November 28, 1973), better known as Anand Jon, is an Indian-born American celebrity fashion designer and convicted rapist who appeared on ''America's Next Top Model'' and was listed in ''Newsweek''s ”Who’s Next in 20 ...

, fashion designer. *

Augustine Joseph Kattassery Augustine Joseph (24 March 1912 – 3 February 1965) was an Indian classical musician and stage actor from Kerala, India. He was the father of Indian playback singer K. J. Yesudas and grandfather of singer Vijay Yesudas. Life H ...

, Singer *

Panampilly Govinda Menon Panampilly Govinda Menon (1 October 1906 – 23 May 1970) was an Indian politician, freedom fighter, and lawyer. He was born in a village near Kathikkudam and completed graduation from '' St.Thomas College, Thrissur''. He started his legal pra ...

, former Kerala Chief Minister

References

External links

India International Boat Show

India International Aqua Show
{{DEFAULTSORT:Culture Of Kochi