A female initiation ritual called the pandal pattu is performed before a girl’s menarche and after the ear boring ceremony among the tribe.
The deceased ancestors are remembered and once a year, toddy, meat, etc., are placed in a room for their use and subsequently enjoyed by the Kurichiyans.
The Kurichiyas worship their deceased ancestors, called Nizhal (shadows) as well as a number of deities unique to their tribe.
For the Thera, the platform or shrine where the puja (worship) is to be performed is purified by holy water from a Brahmin's hands, and a Kurichiyan dressed up for the occasion, with a white head-dress, acts as an oracle.
[2] According to tribal myth,[1] in the distant past before creation, they sky was on the top and the Earth lies far below covered by the sea.
At that time Vadakkari Bhagavathi, the Kurichiya deity had a dream in which the almighty ordered her to find out a place to create 1001 castes.
[1] The traditional account of the Kurichiyars advent into Wyanad is that the Kottayam Raja brought them for fighting the Vedar rulers Arippen and Vedan.
During colonial era, the Kurichya tribe has been well documented in their help of King Pazhassi Raja of Wayanad to fight against the British (during the last decades of the 18th century).
Kurichiyas thus represent a tribal community that was brought into the Wyanad as mercenary soldiers, settled there as agriculturists a century back, defied British power, and found themselves compelled to earn their living as labourers due to lack of access to education.
Descendants of the Kurichiya tribes that fought the British alongside Pazhassi Raja have their settlements in and around Banasura Hill.