Harvest festival
Onam is Kerala's great harvest festival, when families lay flower carpets, share a feast on banana leaves and welcome home the legendary King Mahabali.
Photo: Jithin Murali / Unsplash
August or September, in the Malayalam month of Chingam
Kerala in south-west India, and Malayali communities around the world.
Lay pookalam flower carpets, share the sadya feast, watch snake boat races and pulikali, and wear new clothes.
Onashamsakal: Onam greetings (Malayalam)
Onam is the harvest festival of Kerala, celebrated in the Malayalam month of Chingam. Its best-known story tells of Mahabali, a generous and much-loved king whose reign was remembered as a time of equality and plenty. The god Vishnu, in the form of the dwarf Vamana, asked him for as much land as he could cover in three steps, then grew to an immense size and sent Mahabali to the underworld. Moved by the king's devotion, he allowed Mahabali to visit his people once a year, and Onam welcomes him home.
Celebrations traditionally last ten days, beginning on Atham and reaching their peak on Thiruvonam. Onam is Kerala's state festival, celebrated by people of different faiths and by Malayali communities around the world. Families wear new clothes, often the cream and gold kasavu, and gather for a feast. Towns host cultural programmes, and in Thrissur, performers painted as tigers dance through the streets in pulikali. Along the rivers and backwaters, long snake boats with large crews compete in vallam kali races, including the Aranmula boat race. Customs vary between districts and families, and many people living outside Kerala keep the festival through the feast and flower carpets.
The heart of Onam is the sadya, a vegetarian feast served on a banana leaf, often with more than twenty dishes, such as sambar, avial, olan, thoran, pickles, banana chips and several kinds of payasam, a sweet pudding. Each day, families add a new ring to the pookalam, a circular flower carpet laid at the entrance to welcome Mahabali. Women may perform thiruvathirakali, a graceful circle dance, accompanied by traditional songs.
Celebrate Onam together at home:
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Wish Malayali friends and colleagues Happy Onam or Onashamsakal. If you are invited to a sadya, eat with your right hand if you feel comfortable, and try a little of everything. When you finish, folding the banana leaf towards you is commonly read as thanks, while folding it away can signal dissatisfaction, though customs vary. Admire pookalams without stepping on them.
Onam falls in the Malayalam month of Chingam, usually in August or September. The main day, Thiruvonam, is set by the traditional calendar, and celebrations often begin about ten days earlier on Atham.
Onam has roots in Hindu mythology, but in Kerala it is celebrated as a cultural and harvest festival by people of many faiths, and it is the state’s official festival.
It varies by family and region, but a traditional sadya often has more than twenty items, served in a set order on a banana leaf and ending with one or more kinds of payasam.
