Onam

Practice

The festival celebrates the nearest that Kerala has to spring - when the south-western monsoon stops lashing the state and this perpetually green stretch of land in the south-western corner of India turns even more green and all kinds of flowers bloom. Although a Hindu myth is associated with Onam, the festival is celebrated by Keralites of all religious communities. The celebrations last 10 days, although the tenth day - called thiruvonam - is the most festive day of all.

Everyone wears new clothes, eat well, decorate the yard in front of their houses with floral designs, watch boat races and folk dances including Pulikkali in which men paint themselves to resemble tigers and leopards. Legend has it that Kerala was once ruled by an Asura (loosely translated as demon but literally means non-god) king called Mahabali, or Maveli, in such an exemplary manner that the the devas (the gods) grew jealous and pleaded with Vishnu (one of the Hindu trinity, the three most powerful gods) to get rid of him.

Vishnu took the form of a vamana (dwarf) brahmin and called on Mahabali immediately after his morning prayers when it was the noble king's custom to grant boons to brahmins. Vamana told Mahabali that he wanted land to pray on. Mahabali told him that he could have as much land as he wished. The dwarf said he wanted just three measures of land, each measure being the area that his foot would cover. Mahabali readily conceded the demand. Then Vamana grew to such a size that with just two measures of his feet, he exhausted all the worlds and asked Mahabali how he proposed to give him the promised third measure.

Although he realised that he had been tricked, Mahabali kept his word and showed him his own head, the only place left for him to give away. Vamana put his foot on Mahabali's head and pushed him down into the netherworld, Patala. Mahabali asked for and was given one reprieve, that he be allowed to return once a year to visit his beloved subjects. Onam is the occasion when the righteous king makes his temporary return from wrongful exile. Currently, the government of Kerala celebrates a tourism week along with Onam. This takes the form of pageants, processions of trained, caparisoned elephants, dances, food festivals and so on.

Time :August/September

Place: Kerala