Did you know that smashing coconuts on skulls is an Indian tradition? 

You would have seen people smashing coconuts outside a newly built house for its housewarming or maybe in front of a new car that someone just brought home. But smashing coconut on one’s head, that sounds dangerous, right? But not for the devotees who line up the temples in Tamil Nadu on the Aadi Perukku festival. For them, it is a way of receiving blessings from their God for good health and success in the year ahead.   

Smashing it!  
Every monsoon, the Aadi Perukku festival is celebrated in the state of Tamil Nadu to offer tribute to the life-giving and sustaining nature of water. Nature worship is a significant part of this festival so that every Tamilian family could attain divine grace for its welfare, peace and prosperity.  

The tradition of breaking coconuts on people’s skulls is also a part of the festival celebration in certain parts of  Karur, Coimbatore and  Madurai districts in the state. For example, on the day of the festival, thousands of Hindu devotees gather outside the gates of the Mahalakshmi Temple in Karur to receive blessings. The priest of the temple smashes a coconut on the head of these devotees who are waiting for their turn in a queue, asking for good health and success for each one of them. The devotees would then walk away undeterred by the event. 

But is it a compulsory ritual? Not at all. People themselves volunteer to go through this ordeal driven by the superstition that has been around since the colonial period. 

Origin and significance  
But what led to the birth of such a tradition? Well, there are different stories about the origin of this weird ritual. According to one such story, thousands of years ago, Lord Shiva devotees used to worship him at this place and needed his help but even after trying everything he did not appear. Therefore, comparing a coconut to the three-eyed face of Lord Shiva, the devotees started breaking coconut on their heads to please the deity. Lord Shiva finally appeared and fulfilled their wish. This ritual has been continuing since then. 

According to another theory, during British rule, this temple had to be demolished and a railway line was to be constructed there. But the villagers were against the move. Around 187 coconut-sized stones were collected from the nearby river during the construction of the temple. The Britishers put a condition that if the villagers could break the stone with their heads, the temple would not be demolished, which the villagers fulfilled. Since then the practice of breaking coconut on the head started in the temple. In fact, there is a special museum inside the temple where several coconut-shaped stones are kept on display.  

What is the relevance, you could ask. It is claimed that breaking coconuts on the devotees' heads is symbolic of breaking free from the past, and surrendering oneself to God.