Building a Snake Boat

Building a Snake Boat

Building a Snake Boat

The snake boats take shape in the skilled hands of inspired shipwrights or master boat builders – proud guardians of time honored boat building techniques conscientiously passed on from father to son. Everything is handmade and crafted with great care by the shipwrights. Volunteers from the community are willing assistants and thousands throng the water's edge to watch the first critical trial run of a new boat.

A phalanx of carved oars strokes the water faster and faster as the pace setters vigorously stamp the crucial mood and rhythm. After each tumultuous practice run, people exchange thoughtful, appraising comments before placing their precious bets. Two days prior to the race, all practice runs cease and speculation on boat favorites runs high.

On the day of the race, the excitement is almost palpable when the time comes for the boats to line up. Under the protection of ancient gods, the boatmen row towards the starting line. Children, thrilled to the core, watch with big black wondering eyes and spirited women sporting red, white or mauve or yellow flowers in their hair jostle for vantage points.

There is insistent drumming and whistling coming from somewhere among the dense assembly of people and the vibrant haunting strains of the vanjipatti , the boat song, are already floating over the water. There is a split second of spell-bound silence and stillness as the starter drops his flag.

Then a wild whooping cheer goes up from the ecstatic crowds and the snake boats, their cobra hoods rearing, dart through the water, sending the spray flying as they zip down the course, oars dipping and flashing in unison.

For both the spectators and the boat crews, the moment is supreme. The snake boats, their pennants whipped by the wind, cut a shimmering swathe through the water and the bare backs of the boatmen shine in the brightness of a perfect, cloudless day.

The thumping men or pace setters in the boats, coiling and uncoiling like so many tightly wound springs drive their teams to greater efforts by a compelling combination of rhythm, voice and action. Frenzied drumming, shouting, whistling, clapping and the rousing clash of cymbals induce that extra winning pull at the oars from each member of the crew.

The scene is a wonderful spur to the imagination and the audience can picture it all as it must have been 400 years ago – a paradise for bloodthirsty pirates. A new rustle of excitement stirs the crowd as desperate, perspiring boat crews put in a final, searing burst of muscular energy and surge across the finishing line. The oars slacken, the snake boats slow down, the applause turns into a sustained roar and the boat race is over.

As the palm trees sway gently in the wind, the joy of Onam with its colorful tempestuous boat races recedes over the backwaters and rivers of Kerala. The bright eyed festive crowds packed on the edge of the palm girt watercourses disperse, thinking perhaps of bets to lay again next year, dreaming perhaps, - as I was – of owning a snake boat – the sauciest, swiftest, most fascinating snake boat that ever roved the great waterways of Kerala….