Onam is one of the greatest festivals of Kerala. It is the festival, which the keralites celebrate unitedly without the difference of caste and religion. Onam is a time for sports and festivities and in Kerala where
one third of the area is low lying, covered with canals, lakes and backwaters; the people take to their boats and country crafts to celebrate. Colourful aquatic festivals are organized along the sacred rive Pamba.
After three months of heavy rains, the sky becomes a clear blue and the forests a deep green. The brooks and streams come alive, spitting forth-gentle white foam, the lakes and rivers overflow and lotuses and lilies are in full bloom. It is time to reap the harvest, to celebrate and to rejoice. The harvest festival of Onam
corresponds with the Malayalam New Year, Chingam.
Onam Festival of Kerala Onam Festival of KeralaOnam is the most important harvest festival of Kerala and is an attraction for thousands of people within and outside the state. Ranging from four days to ten days, all the activities during this season are cantered around worshipping, music, dances, sports,boat races and good food. It is celebrated in the Malayalam month Chingam (ending of August and beginning of September). This year it falls on 15 September 2005. Onam is a harvest festival, and celebrates the bounty of nature after a year of hard labour. Elaborate procession of Trichur and spectacular snake boat races on River Pampa mark the merry-making nature of the festival. Women dress up in new saris and heavy jewellery and make rangoli celaborate and intricate designs of ‘rangolis’ (with coloured rice paste) and ‘pookkalam’ (with flowers) in front of their homes
Onam is a celebration of Ten days. People put flower mats in front of their houses, to welcome the King. There will be competition for the laying of flower mats; Keralites all over the world will be celebrating these ten days will pomp and gaiety. They will wear new dresses, will be visiting almost all temples which they can, they will be performing lot of dances like Thiruvathira kali Thumbi Tullal etc. to name a few and the most important thing is the grant lunch they will be having on the Thiuruvonam day. Which is also called the Fourth Onam. Whatever may happen they will not miss the Grant lunch. There is a saying in Malayalam that “Kanam Vittu Onam Unnanam” which means, “We should have the Thiruonam lunch even if we have to sell all our properties”. They give that much importance to the lunch on the Thiruonam day.
Onam Songs
Onam festival is celebrated with lots of dance, music and fun oriented activities. Different forms of dance have their own traditional songs collectively termed as “Onappattu”.
One of the popular songs that highlights the contribution of king Mahabali is
Everyone was equal
Happily they lived
Danger befell none
There was no falsehood, or fraud
And no untruth.’
Thumbi Thullal Song
“Onnam thumbiyum oru pattam makkalum
koode para para thumbi thullu…
thumbi erumballa, chemballa, odalla…
thumbicku orumani ponmaala.. “
“Entha thumbi… thullathe.. poovu poranjo, pookudam poranjo ?
entha thumbi thullathe ? “
“randam thumbiyum oru pattam makkalum…
Major attractions of Onam are
Onamsadya : It is a 9 course meal that is served on a banana leaf with a fixed menu, served in a fixed manner.
Snake Boat race : It is a very popular sport performed by men in Kerala, especially on the festival of Onam. Different boats are decorated for this purpose and a fast paced race is carried out on Onam.
Onakalikal: All the games performed on Onam are together called Onakalikal. These sports are physically challenging, and are traditionally performed by men.
Dances: While men engage themselves in games, women folk generally indulge in performing different dance forms in a group.
Although Onam is very important to the people of Kerala, its significance comes from 2 main reasons, one of which relates to past history and second is related to the time of occurrence:
Historical significance: The people of Kerala strongly worship the holy king Mahabali, in whose reign, the state of Kerala was supposed to prosper and glorify.
Chingam: The month of Chingam according to Malayalam calendar is the last month of the calendar andmarks the start of monsoons and good harvest.
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