CHENNAI: Aadi Perukku is celebrated on the 18th day of Aadi month honouring water's vital role in life and agriculture. The festival involves prayers, offerings, and festivities in the regions surrounding the Kaveri River. Although Aadi Perukku is still practised today, the once-gushing waters described in literary works are now missing. This festival deserves to be celebrated with the same significance as Pongal among Tamils. As the Tamil proverb by Avvaiyar goes, “Aarila oorukku azhagu pazh” (there is no beauty in a city without rivers), this sentiment is particularly relevant for cities like Chennai, which has already lost its major river, the Cooum.

The festival also includes customs for newly married women, who replace the yellow thread on their thali with hopes for happiness, and visit temples near riverbanks to pray to Goddess Amman. The women later receive a new thali thread from elderly married ladies.