Onam...

Recently one of my friends had asked us for a write up on Onam , as his mother wanted to celebrate Onam at Frankfurt and so wanted some details about the festival. So I sat down and put all I could think of about this festival in words. I have reproduced it here.

Before I put in my post, Sanjesh had given a small write up on why Onam is celebrated. I will put that in first as I guess that would be the correct chronology.

Sanju's Post
A long long time ago, an Asura (demon) king called Mahabali ruled Kerala. He was a wise, benevolent and judicious ruler and beloved of his subjects. Soon his fame as an able king began to spread far and wide, but when he extended his rule to the heavens and the netherworld, the gods felt challenged and began to fear his growing powers. Presuming that he might become over-powerful, Aditi, the mother of Devas pleaded with Lord Vishnu to curtail Mahabali's powers.

Vishnu transformed himself into a dwarf called Vamana and approached Mahabali while he was performing a yajna and asked for alms. Pleased with the dwarf brahmin's wisdom, Mahabali granted him a wish. The Emperor's preceptor, Sukracharya warned him against making the gift, for he realized that the seeker was no ordinary person. But the Emperor's kingly ego was boosted to think that God had asked him for a favor. So he firmly declared that there is no greater sin than going back on one's promise. He kept his word.

The Vamana asked for a simple gift — three paces of land — and the king agreed to it. Vishnu in the guise of Vamana then increased his stature and with the first step covered the sky, blotting out the stars, and with the second, straddled the netherworld. Realising that Vamana's third step will destroy the earth, Mahabali offered his head as the last step.

Vishnu's fatal third step pushed him to the netherworld, but before banishing him to the underworld Vishnu granted him a boon. Since he was attached to his kingdom and his people, he was allowed to return once a year from exile. Onam is the celebration that marks the homecoming of King Mahabali. It is the day when a grateful Kerala pays a glorious tribute to the memory of this benign king who gave his all for his subjects.

My Post
Onam is indeed the festival to welcome Mahabali. There is a saying in Malayalam regarding Onam "You should feast during onam, even if you have to sell your house" . The whole point being, that when Mahabali comes to visit you, you should not be unhappy and hungry (This is a gala time for beggars, suddenly you have them in all shapes and sizes :) !!! ).

The celebrations or the preparation for celebrations start a week back. All the children in the house are woken up early in the morning. And each of them is given a flower basket and set free to roam the countryside :) !! They go about collecting as many flowers of as many different hues and colors as possible. During our time...there used to be a flower called rice flower(i am sorry i don't know the english name for this, rice flower is a literal translation from malayalam, i will see if i can get the name.), which grows like a thorny hedge..scars obtained while gathering this rice flower are displayed proudly among kids and especially in front of girls :) !!

The children come back, empty their basket and indulge in the most enjoyable part of onam celebrations. They create the flower carpet...the children start drawing the outlines and to fill in the interiors of the carpet with elaborate details, the young auntie ( who is also supposed to be a beautiful girl ) is coaxed and cajoled.....then this lady sits down and starts to draw a most beautiful design. This arrests the attention of a handsome young hunk. He is drawn to the flower carpet like a moth to fire and is engulfed within the elaborate designs and patterns drawn by a now very conscious and shy girl.....The seeds of love are sown and the natural and rustic beauty of a kerala village carries these two love birds on a new journey similar to the intricate patterns, which had begun the mischief in the first place.....

ahem...now to get back to the point....:)....

More importantly Onam is actually the harvest festival of kerala. This is the time when the monsoons are receding and the rice crops, sown just before the monsoons, are reaped. All throughout Kerala, farmers and their family's go to the farms (how else would the love birds ever get together :) ) and make sure that the farm work is done in full gusto....The harvesting is accompanied by songs called pulluvan pattu which adds to the enthu while harvesting... (you can hear this as a backdrop in quite a lot of malayalm films.)

In addition to this, a particular caste of people dress up like thaiyams (technically they are not, I just mentioned them so you could understand.) called Baeden, thats the closest pronunciation i can think off and no its not got a german touch ;) !) and they go from house to house and retelling the times of Mahabali. They talk about how life was during Mahabali's reign. There are some very good poems on this. But I am zero on malayalam literature so cant give you an insight into them :( !! In short, during Mahabali's reign there was no robbery murder or poverty. There was no beggar or homeless person....

Towards the south they have another folk ritual. This is the famous Thiruvathirakali, where a group of girls, dressed in the traditional mundu-veshti or set-mundu (this is what sanjesh was looking for, and is a sari like dress, or to be more clear consider it as a sari. The sari is white and the border of the sari matches the blouse worn. And to be frank this is one of my weaknesses :D ) dance to the tunes of a song. The dance is executed in a circle, in the center of which there is a traditional brass lamp and a small statue of Mahabali made of cow dung (I am not sure of the cow dung part, I thing they use wet soil too !!) The song is slow and the tempo rises and falls depending on the particular song. The unique aspect of the dance is the intricate steps that these lady's execute all the time moving in a circle. Its beautiful :) !!

On the last day, i.e the main day of Onam, the patriarch of the house rewards all the workers who have worked for him, by giving them clothes and a token amount (varies depending upon the capability of a household) !! The workers are usually farmers, but other classes of laborers are also rewarded. Then everybody in the house is given new clothes which is called Onakodi. The children love onam most for this, and trust me it is a sight to see them all dressed and decked up and going to the house of friends and relatives to check up on the flower carpets. You should see the look on their young faces trying to be modest, but knowing inside that they are looking very good, and ultimately what is evident on their face is the remains of a lost battle against the knowledge that you are looking good : ) !! And boy it looks heavenly on children !!!

Now you usually the panchayat also has a panel of judges who go around the locality and rate the carpets of each household. Also a new funda that is doing the rounds now, are a group of people dressing up as Mahabali and Vamana, collecting from each house. Since the rains have now gone, this ensures that the local clubs now have enough money to buy bats and balls to keep them busy during the summer :D !!!

Hm mm... I think I have covered what I know : ) . There must be other small and lively rituals, but I don't know of them...... !!