Kannamaly is coastal suburb of

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 ...

situated near

Chellanam Chellanam is a village and a suburb of Kochi city in the Indian state of Kerala. History Chellanam formed the southern border of the pre-colonial Kingdom of Cochin. In 1510, Goa was captured by the Portuguese general Alfonso Albuquerque fr ...

in the

Ernakulam district Ernakulam, ; ISO: ''Eṟaṇākuḷaṁ'', in Malayalam: എറണാകുളം), is one of the 14 districts in the Indian state of Kerala, that takes its name from the eponymous city division in Kochi. It is situated in the central part ...

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 ...

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 ...

. It comes under the Kochi taluk. The place is well-known all over Kerala state for the St Joseph's pilgrim Centre and the feast along with 'nercha sadhya' (votive meal) on March 19th that attract massive crowds every year.

Geography

Kannamaly is situated in the coast of

Arabian Sea The Arabian Sea ( ar, اَلْبَحرْ ٱلْعَرَبِيُّ, Al-Bahr al-ˁArabī) is a region of the northern Indian Ocean bounded on the north by Pakistan, Iran and the Gulf of Oman, on the west by the Gulf of Aden, Guardafui Channel ...

. The village shares its boarder with Arabian sea in west, ''Kannamali kayal'' in east, ''Kandakadavu'' in south and ''Cheriyakadavu'' in north.

History

This place was a seaport in ancient times. There were

telescope A telescope is a device used to observe distant objects by their emission, absorption, or reflection of electromagnetic radiation. Originally meaning only an optical instrument using lenses, curved mirrors, or a combination of both to observ ...

s in the highest points of the seaport for detecting the ships arriving to the port.

Feast of St Joseph

Kannamaly celebrates St Joseph's Feast on March 19th every year with a massive communal meal. On that day many hundreds of thousands gather at Kannamaly to pay respects to St Joseph and to take part in the 'nercha sadhya' (solemn meal). The shrine of St Joseph is attached to St Antony's Parish Church. The custom dates back to the early 1900s when an outbreak of Cholera epidemic in the area killed a large number of people. It is believed that the custom of a communal meal got started in 1905, when the epidemic came to an end with a similar meal on March 19th.

Etymology

The word Kannamaly is a combination of two words ''Kannu'' and ''Maly.'' The word Kannu means eye and maly means seaport.

References

Villages in Ernakulam district Coordinates not on Wikidata {{Kerala-geo-stub