“ Maveli naadu vaneedum kaalam, manusharellarum onnu polle” these are a few words from a very famous song sung during Onam. Onam is a 10-day harvest festival celebrated by Keralite in the Malayalam calendar month of chingam. The festival celebrates a demon king Mahabali who despite being a demon was well known for his kindness and generosity.
Legend says that mahabali had defeated the gods and had taken over the three worlds, saddened by the defeat, the gods consulted lord Vishnu who decides to help them. Lord Vishnu takes the form of a dwarf Vamana and goes up to mahabali and ask him for three foot of land. After agreeing to grand him the wish, vamana grew bigger in size, big enough to touch the skies and covered the entire earth in one foot and then with the next foot he covered the entire sky and there was no more space for the next step. Overwhelmed by the lord, mahabali bowed his head, impressed by his devotion the lord allowed him to be the king of the patallog (underground world) and he was also granted to meet his subjects once a year.
The return of mahabali is what is widely celebrated as Onam in Kerala. The festival lasts for 10 days and the last day is the most important of them all and is called thiruvonam. On this day an elaborate feast called onasadya is prepared, comprising of 26 dishes of varying tastes, a fully balanced diet according to Ayurveda. The onam sadya consist of avial, pachadi, kichadi, papadam, achar, paripu, payasam, sambar, thoran and many more. The sadhya is eaten in a certain fashion wherein all the dishes could be tasted the best way. On this day women wear the traditional dress Sari while men wear mundu and shirt. It is a very cheerful and lovely time to spend with family playing fun Onam games like Vadamvali, onathallu, boat raise, pullikali and many more traditional games. Different games are famous in different regions of Kerala like Thrissur is famous for its pulikalli, while palakadu is famous for its onathallu and Kannur is famous for thaiyyam and onapottan. Across the other parts of India vaishnavas (devotees who worship lord Vishnu) celebrate this part of the year as vamanajayanthy.
Flower beds are a very important part of onam where children and adults equally get involved in collecting flowers and placing them in patterns of 10 circles and is called attampattu. The onam festival completes on the 10th day on thiruvonam with a complete blast and everyone celebrates together thus depicting that despite the differences that exist between us we will all stay and celebrate together. This is the message onam stand for too, a time when there were no differences between people and all lived in perfect health and harmony.
WISH YOU AND YOUR FAMILY A VERY HAPPY ONAM…