The preparation for the festival lasts several months, and members of the other clans offer some help with the organization.

[8]: 4 The unpredictable climate of the Bay of Bengal, and the importance of seafaring to the local economy, made accurate predicition of weather vital to Chowra's society.

Traditionally, the people of Chowra did not rely on written calendars, instead appointing experts on weather conditions and seasonal change called tamol sahiöh, who was consulted before any significant seagoing activities and decided on the date of every seasonal festival year-on-year.

A man who wished to build a canoe would first travel to one of the nearby islands with wood of high quality, such as Teressa, Katchal and Nancowry, where he would perform manual labour in exchange for permission to fell and use a tree of his choice.

The roughly shaped canoe would then be moved carefully, by 20-30 men, to the shore, where it would be fully carved out and made watertight.

Some days later the team that had built it would complete the vessel by fine-tuning and re-assembling it; from this point the canoe is considered a living being, part of the Chowraite community.