Kannamaly is a coastal suburb of

Kochi Kochi ( , ), List of renamed Indian cities and states#Kerala, formerly known as Cochin ( ), is a major port city along the Malabar Coast of India bordering the Laccadive Sea. It is part of the Ernakulam district, district of Ernakulam in the ...

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'') is one of the List of districts of Kerala, 14 districts in the States and union territories of India, Indian state of Kerala, and takes its name from the Ernakulam, eponymous city division in Kochi. ...

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 ...

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

. 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 19 that attract massive crowds every year.

Geography

Kannamaly is situated in the coast of

Arabian Sea The Arabian Sea () is a region of sea in the northern Indian Ocean, bounded on the west by the Arabian Peninsula, Gulf of Aden and Guardafui Channel, on the northwest by Gulf of Oman and Iran, on the north by Pakistan, on the east by India, and ...

. The village shares its border 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 (electromagnetic radiation), absorption, or Reflection (physics), reflection of electromagnetic radiation. Originally, it was an optical instrument using len ...

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 19 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 19.

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 {{Kerala-geo-stub