Onam - the festival, and what it signifies…

Hey people,

            I know…
Weird title, weird name. But I’m here to explain what the weird title means,
and why I have a 10 days holiday from school J.

             Onam is a
harvest festival, celebrated in the small state of Kerala in India. The
people of Kerala speak a language called Malayalam (Check it out! It’s a
palindrome!) and thus are called Malayalees(as in Bruce Lee ;) ).

             So anyway,
Onam is celebrated on the thiruvonam
day of the Malayalam calendar month Chingam.
Looooooooong time back most of the people in Kerala were farmers. And they
harvested their crop during the August-September time. Thus, Onam is celebrated
with much joy and enjoyment – like Thanksgiving. Sort of Thanksgiving to God.

             On Onam,
people give each other new dresses called onakoddi.
Then, there is the traditional onasadhya
which is the quite delicious and pompous lunch on the onam day, served in a
banana leaf.

             Thus, it is
a get together of families, and fastening of ever untying family bonds that
exist in India.
Promoting peace, and neighbourly love, Onam lives on as a festival celebrated
by all and sundry in Kerala, forgetting their cast, religion or sex.

             Legend has
it that an asuran ruled Kerala looong
back. His name was Mahabali. During his rule, all were happy, and there was no
robbery or any bad other bad things. Now, jealous of this, the devans of the heaven decided that
Mahabali was not fit to rule Kerala. They appealed to the God Vishnu. God
Vishnu took his avatar as a Brahmin lad named Vamanan, and came to Kerala.

            Vamanan
approached Mahabali, and requested for some land. Mahabali was known for his generosity.
So Vamanan asked for some land which was measured by 3 times his feet length.
Mahabali laughed at his request, and allowed him to do so. Vamanan, being the
supreme God Vishnu, readily enlarged his form. In the first two steps he took
up all seven worlds. And the third step, he had nowhere to keep. So he asked
Mahabali where to keep it, and Mahabali asked Vamanan to keep the third foot on
his own head. Thus, Mahabali was forced down into the ground, and into pathalam(the underworld).

             But
Mahabali asked Vamanan one last thing. He wanted to visit his land, Kerala, on
one day a year. Vamanan allowed him to do so, and thus legend has it that
Mahabali or Maveli, visits Kerala on the day of Onam.

             Thus to
welcome Maveli, the malayalees prepared delicious food items, and lay out a
floral carpet in front of their houses. These floral carpets are designed, and
are very attractive. They are called pookalams.
Now, the pookalam concept has taken a different angle, and all schools,
colleges and offices have pookalamalsarams – pookalam competitions. Teams lay
out pookalams and the best one is awarded…

             All schools
and colleges end their first terms by Onam, and give a 10 days rest, to the
poor minds, called Onam Holidays. Thus we have our holidays J
.

             Onam is a
grand event, too grand to be written in an article. It has to be viewed, and
experienced. No person can portray the busy streets, the smiling faces, the
excitement in the air, the bright colours, the happiness, joy, and the positive
spirit all over the place J . No one describe the delicious feast, the onasadhya, in all its grandeur. No
individual can contemplate every single thing about Onam, an event so grand,
that it shakes the wall of heaven and hell!

             Above all,
no human can describe the peace, harmony, and brotherhood prevalent along the
whole event. This year’s Onam is on September 5th. As I relish in
the joy of Onam, I wish each and every one of you a Happy Onam!


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September 2, 2006 | Filed Under General World | 2 Comments 

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