The Feast of Saint Raphael or Malakhayude Perunnal is an annual festival held in

Ollur Ollur is a major suburban area and an old commercial town in the city of Thrissur of Kerala state, South India. It is about away from Swaraj Round on old National Highway 47 (India) towards Kochi. From ancient time onwards, Ollur was a major bu ...

, near

Thrissur Thrissur (, ), Renaming of cities in India, formerly Trichur, also known by its historical name Thrissivaperur, is a city and the headquarters of the Thrissur district in Kerala, India. It is the List of most populous urban agglomerations in Ke ...

, Kerala (India), since 1839. It draws thousands of pilgrims. The Ollur forane church, founded in 1718 and dedicated to St Anthony, also houses a shrine of Raphael the Archangel. It is one of the oldest churches built in 18th-century

Kerala Kerala ( , ) is a States and union territories of India, 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 ...

. The festival, held on 23 and 24 October of each year, is one of the most important Christian festivals in

. The festival starts with the hoisting of the ceremonial flag on 15 October to mark the beginning of the celebrations in the church compound. It is one of half a dozen Christian festivals listed by Kerala Tourism as among the attractions of the state.Kerala Tourism
, accessed 29 Oct. 2009

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{{Tourism in Kerala Culture of Thrissur 1839 establishments in India Festivals in Thrissur district Religion in Thrissur October