I think most of you would be familiar with the Thanksgiving festival celebrated in the US which began as a harvest festival. Today I am going to tell you about a little known harvest festival from my home state in India namely Kerala – called Onam.
Legend goes that Kerala prospered during the reign of King Mahabali and everyone in his kingdom was happy and prosperous. There was only one problem - the Gods became jealous about how much the people on Earth liked King Mahabali and decided to teach him a lesson. They sent down one of the Gods – ‘Vishnu’ disguised as a monk. When the monk was admitted to the king’s audience, the king told him that he would grant whatever the monk desired. The monk told King Mahabali that he did not wish for anything much - just enough land that he could measure with three of his footsteps.
The king readily agreed to the monk’s request. On hearing this, the monk who was actually ‘Lord Vishnu’ in disguise grew larger and larger in size. With his first footstep he covered the earth; with his second footstep he covered the sky. Since he still had to take his third footstep, the king offered his head and Vishnu placed his third footstep on the king’s head and pushed him into the underworld.
Since the king was so loved by the people in his kingdom, the Gods allow him to visit his people once a year for 10 days. And so the people of Kerala celebrate the festival of Onam, just after the harvest to welcome King Mahabali’s time on Earth which usually falls between the months of August to September. Some of the following customs and traditions are observed during the 10 days of Onam celebration.
The ladies of the house make elaborate decorations in front of the main entrance of the house using different kind of flowers called pookalam. Here is one made by the Leela Kovalam staff where I stayed on my last India trip…
During the festival days young girls and women perform a traditional dance called Kaikotti kali dressed in a special costume. Snake boat races are held in various locations called Vallamkali. We often have all night kacheris – traditional Kathakali dancers in elaborate makeup and costumes re-enacting the story of Onam through story and dance
Growing up as a child my favorite memories of Onam was the beautiful meal that my mum made – it had to have three main ingredients: papadam – traditional deep fried puffed up Indian flatbread or cracker made from lentil flour and spices; pazham –the small sweet bananas – sometimes referred to as honey bananas; and payasam – a sweet dish made from rice, broken wheat or lentil boiled in milk with sugar. All the items in a traditional Onam meal are vegetarian and most exciting of all the entire meal is eaten off a banana leaf.
The Onam sadhya (meal) can have up to 24 dishes. My favorites’ of course are: Erissery – made from yellow pumpkins and red karamani beans; Injipuli – made from grated ginger, red chilies, tamarind and jaggery; Aviyal – mixed vegetables cooked in a coconut yogurt sauce; Kaalan – green plaintains cooked in a coconut yogurt sauce; Thorans - vegetables in grated coconut – a dry preparation; Mezhukupezhati – vegetables steamed and stir fried in oil with mustard seeds, chili etc., again a dry preparation.
My mouth waters just thinking of the various goodies of the Onam meal and this is one of the traditions that I have tried to observe for my family and friends as I moved away from India more than 23 years ago…
Last year on my annual India trip, I was very fortunate…I was in Kerala on the 1st day of Onam…that is when they start making the pookalams (floral decorations). They continue making pookalams for all the 9 days leading up to Onam and designs get more and more elaborate towards the festival day. I also had the extreme pleasure of celebrating the actual festival day with my parent’s after umpteen years…It was doubly joyful as my father had been in an accident and recovered within 3 days to be home for the festival. My kindergarten friend was our surprise guest for the Onam meal as well...
Legend goes that Kerala prospered during the reign of King Mahabali and everyone in his kingdom was happy and prosperous. There was only one problem - the Gods became jealous about how much the people on Earth liked King Mahabali and decided to teach him a lesson. They sent down one of the Gods – ‘Vishnu’ disguised as a monk. When the monk was admitted to the king’s audience, the king told him that he would grant whatever the monk desired. The monk told King Mahabali that he did not wish for anything much - just enough land that he could measure with three of his footsteps.
The king readily agreed to the monk’s request. On hearing this, the monk who was actually ‘Lord Vishnu’ in disguise grew larger and larger in size. With his first footstep he covered the earth; with his second footstep he covered the sky. Since he still had to take his third footstep, the king offered his head and Vishnu placed his third footstep on the king’s head and pushed him into the underworld.
Since the king was so loved by the people in his kingdom, the Gods allow him to visit his people once a year for 10 days. And so the people of Kerala celebrate the festival of Onam, just after the harvest to welcome King Mahabali’s time on Earth which usually falls between the months of August to September. Some of the following customs and traditions are observed during the 10 days of Onam celebration.
The ladies of the house make elaborate decorations in front of the main entrance of the house using different kind of flowers called pookalam. Here is one made by the Leela Kovalam staff where I stayed on my last India trip…
During the festival days young girls and women perform a traditional dance called Kaikotti kali dressed in a special costume. Snake boat races are held in various locations called Vallamkali. We often have all night kacheris – traditional Kathakali dancers in elaborate makeup and costumes re-enacting the story of Onam through story and dance
Growing up as a child my favorite memories of Onam was the beautiful meal that my mum made – it had to have three main ingredients: papadam – traditional deep fried puffed up Indian flatbread or cracker made from lentil flour and spices; pazham –the small sweet bananas – sometimes referred to as honey bananas; and payasam – a sweet dish made from rice, broken wheat or lentil boiled in milk with sugar. All the items in a traditional Onam meal are vegetarian and most exciting of all the entire meal is eaten off a banana leaf.
The Onam sadhya (meal) can have up to 24 dishes. My favorites’ of course are: Erissery – made from yellow pumpkins and red karamani beans; Injipuli – made from grated ginger, red chilies, tamarind and jaggery; Aviyal – mixed vegetables cooked in a coconut yogurt sauce; Kaalan – green plaintains cooked in a coconut yogurt sauce; Thorans - vegetables in grated coconut – a dry preparation; Mezhukupezhati – vegetables steamed and stir fried in oil with mustard seeds, chili etc., again a dry preparation.
My mouth waters just thinking of the various goodies of the Onam meal and this is one of the traditions that I have tried to observe for my family and friends as I moved away from India more than 23 years ago…
Last year on my annual India trip, I was very fortunate…I was in Kerala on the 1st day of Onam…that is when they start making the pookalams (floral decorations). They continue making pookalams for all the 9 days leading up to Onam and designs get more and more elaborate towards the festival day. I also had the extreme pleasure of celebrating the actual festival day with my parent’s after umpteen years…It was doubly joyful as my father had been in an accident and recovered within 3 days to be home for the festival. My kindergarten friend was our surprise guest for the Onam meal as well...
