Kochi :
Seated in a circle on the small roof of a house near Thoppumpady, Suresh and a few of his friends are making stars from ‘eetta’, a variety of bamboo known for its flexibility.
The bamboo star has now become hard to find at your average store or market. These star makers strip, bent and fasten the bamboo following specific measurements before covering the frame with tracing paper on which intricate designs have been made.
Suresh is a third generation star maker. “Making stars is not an occupation for me. I am a daily wage worker. But in the month of December, I continue with the tradition that my father taught me when I was young,” he says, pasting delicate pieces of tracing paper on reed frames.
“We are all scheduled caste Hindus. Very honestly, I know very little about Christianity, but how does it matter? It is about brotherhood and living together in harmony. Our stars are only made in the white as a symbol of peace. After all, isn’t that what Christ wanted? Peace and unity among all men?” asks Suresh’s friend Sajeevan.
Every year, they collect bamboo reeds and keep them dry. “We started working on December 5, and till now we have made about 75 stars,” said Suresh. A lot of love and labour goes into the making of these stars. The demand is high for five point stars which takes an average of eight or nine hours to make, depending on the detail and size.
“Back in the day, we didn’t have stars, we had ‘aakashavilakku’ which was hung outside our homes,” says Suresh.
An ‘aakashavilakku’ is either a pentagonal or octagonal prism with cut paper detailing, and usually around two or three-and-a-half feet in length. It took two men 15 hours to make an ‘aakashavilakku’.
Suresh says most of his orders come from churches and for events such as Cochin Carnival since most people now prefer foldable paper and plastic stars.
“Very few people make these now. Considering the man hours, a four feet star will cost around Rs 450. But since the demand is low, we sell them for Rs 300,” he says.
source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Kochi / TNN / December 20th, 2014
