Devotees used to put mala for Lord Ayyappa in Sabarimalai on the first day of the tamil month of Karthigai. They have to wear Thulsi mala or Rudraksha malai. They can either wear this with the help of the priest in a temple or any person who has gone to sabarimalai many times. If anybody has gone to sabarimala atleast 18 times, they are called 'Guruswamy'. They can put malai to any ayyappa devotee. If it is not possible to get neither a priest nor guruswamy, they can keep this malai infront of the picture or idol of Lord Ayyappa , pray to him and put the mala on their own.

Vratham
Devotees should have to follow strict rules for 48 days after wearing this malai and till they start for sabarimalai.48 days is called 'Mandalam' in Tamil. Let us see below what are the do's and dont's for the 48 days

1. They should observe 'Bramacharya vratham' during these 48 days. That means they should not have contact with  wife or any other women.
2. They should took bath twice daily in morning and evening and pray lord ayyappa. After that only they should eat food.
3. They should not eat meat or any non vegetarian food.
4. They should not drink anything mixed with alcohol.
5. They should not smoke cigarettes.
6. They should wear dhoties of the following colours green,blue,saffron. If a person is going to sabarimalai for the first time, he should wear black dhoti. For persons working, it will not be possible to wear dhoties full day. So they wear dhoties at the time of the prayer in morning and evening.
7. They should never remove the malai . It should be there even while taking bath.
8. During this period, if the death of any close relatives occur, they should remove the malai and attend the rituals of the demised person. If the person is very close, they can avoid going to sabarimalai that year.
9. They should not attend the function of a new born baby or the age attending function of a girl
10. They can eat the food prepared by women only after 7 days from the starting date of her menstrual cycle.
11. They can avoid eating food in hotels or other person's home. They can eat food in another devotee's residence.
12. They should not wear chappels or slippers. For working people, it may not be always possible.
13. Usually devotees will only eat two twice in a day and avoid eating rice for dinner.

If any women aged less than 60 reside in the devotee's place, they should avoid seeing the devotee in morning and evening after they take bath and till they complete the prayers and eat food.

Women in the age between 10 to 60 or till their menstrual cycle is finished, they are not allowed to enter sabarimalai by following this vratham as they will get their menstrual cycle in this period of 48 days

Irumudi
Now after 48 days, the devotees will start their yatra for sabarimalai. Usually devotees will start in groups under the guidance of their guruswamy. Before they start, they will do poojas either at temple or a marriage hall or at a house and take the 'Irumudi' ( in Tamil ). Irumudi is nothing, but a two compartment cloth bag . Front part ( Munmudi in Tamil ) is reserved  for keeping the following pooja items and the back part ( Pinmudi in Tamil ) is used for keeping the personal things of the devotee. Those devotees who observe the 48 day vratham are only allowed to take irumudi and only those having irumudis are allowed to enter the 18 holy steps in sabarimalai.

1. Turmeric powder ( atleast 100g )
2. Sandol powder
3. Kumkum powder
4. Cocunut filled with ghee
5. Ghee
6. Coconuts - 5 to 6
7. Rose water - 1 bottle
8. Camphor - 1 packet
9. Raw rice - 1 kg

Lord Ayyappa Pooja
On the day of pooja, all devotees assemble in the place along with their friends and relatives. Guruswamy starts packing the things for irumudi for each devotee one by one.The devotee sits near the guruswamy and he will put ghee in the cocunut by putting a hole in it. Usually the friends and relatives are allowed to put ghee and rice into the irumudi. Some people will put money to the irumudi bag as they cannot visit the place. Guruswamy ties the bag with a rope after all the items in it and puts a flower mala for the bag. Once the irumudi bag is packed, the devotee keeps the bag in his head and starts for the yatra reciting slokas of Lord Ayyappa. If they are not starting immediately they will keep all irumudis in one place. While this pooja goes for every devotee, other devotees will sing songs and tell slokas of Lord Ayyappa.

Padi Pooja
After the irumudi pooja is over they will do 'Padi pooja'. This pooja is performed for the holy 18 steps present in sabarimalai.They will light diyas on 18 steps and recite slokas. It is believed that each step indicates a deity as per the below list. Steps 10 to 18 indicates the nine planets.

1. Lord Ganesha
2. Lord Shiva
3. Goddess Parvati
4. Lord Muruga
5. Lord Brahma
6. Lord Vishnu
7. Lord Ranganatha
8. Goddess Kali
9. Lord Yama
10. Sun
11. Moon
12. Mars
13.Mercury
14.Jupiter
15.Venus
16. Saturn
17.North lunar node
18.South lunar node

Some devotees will cook for themselves in this journey. So they will take the minimum items that are needed for cooking.There are many routes from different places to sabarimalai. Some devotees travel in 7 miles ( 11 kms approx ) route while others prefer 48 miles ( 77 kms ) route. After coming in bus, train , van etc they will walk in any of the above routes to reach sabarimalai. From the time they started their journey to till the time they reach sabarimalai, they will recite ayyappa slokas. On the way they will come across jungles. So if they recite slokas, the animals will recognize the human presence and will not come out of the jungle.

This is how the devotees of Lord Ayyappa observe vratham and visit sabarimalai.
Let Lord Ayyappa bless all the devotees with good health and happiness. Swamiye Saranam Ayyappa !!!