Onam through the lens of Keralites reminiscing about their Onam traditions and celebrations

Onam is a harvest festival that is celebrated in Kerala every year. One of the major festivals for the Keralites, also known as Thiru-Onam or Thiruvonam. It goes on for 10 days, where people honor a kind-hearted demon King Mahabali, who is believed to return his kingdom during Onam. People celebrate it with all love and excitement and follow various Onam traditions. 

From eating Onam Sadhya on a banana leaf to making the traditional Rangoli 'Pookkalam’ with friends and family, Onam is a festival that brings nothing but joy and harmony. For migrated families, it is something that connects them with their native land giving them a reason to take some time out from their busy lives and connect with other migrated Malayalees. This year, we decided to ask a few Keralites how they celebrate this prosperous festival, what Onam traditions do they practice, and what makes it special for them.

A grand celebration with rituals, and different Onam traditions

Onam is celebrated to mark the beginning of a new year. It starts 10 days before the actual festival. The day of Atham marks the first day of the season that people celebrate by making simple rangoli with only white colored flowers. The 10th day is Thiruvathira and is the day when the Keralites celebrate Onam.

It is a harvest festival hence it is celebrated with a lot of enthusiasm, and with this enthusiasm, comes different traditions and activities that Keralites love doing. The day begins with a family get-together followed by a hearty meal and then a lot of fun games. "There are various games like Uri Adi or Onapandu which are enjoyed. Like other festivals, Onam is also about celebrating it with family, says Swathi Suresh, an IT professional from Kerala.

Another important highlight of Onam is the auspicious 'Kai kotti kali' performance, a 2000-year-old dance form and one of the most beautiful Onam traditions. "This dance is performed by the women irrespective of their age and is a lot of fun to watch.", says Anushri Nair, who hails from Guruvayoor, Kerala.

Though it's a 10-day long festival, the migrated Malayalees only celebrate the 10th day. "Since we don’t have many leaves granted, so we celebrate the last day by inviting our friends and family to our homes. To connect with the other Malayalees, we have our own association and so, we celebrate Onam later by fixing a convenient date and time.", says Ashwathi Anoopkumar, a student and a freelance content writer.

One of the reasons that make Onam even more special is that it is celebrated by every Keralite irrespective of their religion. "We all come together and have a blast. Every Keralite celebrates this festival, no matter what their religion is and that's what makes Onam the best.", says Pheba Philp, an event planner and another Keralite who stays in Navi Mumbai.

Born and brought up in Mumbai, Onam has always been a special occasion for Harsha Nair. "The best part is we have many Malayalam Samaj so, Onam is always celebrated for months.", says Harsha, whose hometown is Malapalli. Throwing light on what people wear during Onam, Joshua says, "People wear traditional clothes, and the women wear a traditional white & gold saree called the Kasavu.", says Joshua Davy, who runs an Instagram page by the name Kerala Food vibes.

A bite from the traditional Onam Sadhya

You can't talk about Onam and not mention the most delicious part of it. Yes, we are talking about the scrumptious Onam Sadhya meal. Sadhya is popular not just among the Keralites, but also among other people. It's something that we can't resist as this indulgent spread satisfies every craving—crunchy, spicy, tangy, zesty, and sweet. In Kerala, you will find every family cooking its own Sadhya with 26 different traditional food items, and they all look and taste delicious!

"Preparing Onam Sadhya is the happiest part of the festival, I feel. It is usually a feast of 26 dishes, but my favourite is the sweet Payasam.", says Joshua. Anushri loves Payasam too, she says even though Sadya is a mix of different types of food, her favorite is the Payasam. "Oh, how can one not like that?", she says.

Adding colours with 'Pookkalam', one of the fragrant and gorgeous onam traditions

Pookkalam or the traditional flower rangoli is the main attraction of the Onam. The kids of the family collect the flowers from the gardens and make the rangoli together. You will find this rangoli outside every home during Onam.

"People get so creative with their pookaalam and it's just something that would awestruck you. It’s magic in itself.", Anushri says.

It's also very adorable to see kids picking up the flowers and making beautiful patterns out of them. Swathi has been one such kid, and made Pookkalam every year." I used to make pookalams throughout the whole Onam season with my grandmother at our ancestral house.", she says.

It is also a belief that pookkalam signifies a welcome to the king mahabali who visits once a year. "A lot of people will tell you this. But, anyway, my memories of pookkalam have been joyful. We used to collect flowers and decorate the pookalam with cousins and family.", adds Joshua. Similarly, Radhika also finds making the rangoli a lot of fun. "My sisters and I make the pookkalam in new patterns every year. Everything is fun. Right from collecting flowers to making patterns, we love working on it.", she says with excitement.

At Ashwathi's home, it totally depends on who is free, but mostly it's her who makes the Pookkalam aka Kkalam. At her place, it's a legit Pookkalam competition every year, that now happens over WhatsApp. "So, we click pictures and post them on our family WhatsApp groups. We compare which family’s kkalam is the best, and it's fun every single time. Though there are no prizes for it.", she laughs while explaining.

Pheba Philip and her family keep it all organized. "Every year we choose a different design for the pookalam. We are all assigned different jobs, some pluck the flowers, some get to pick and draw the outline of the pookalam, some clean and separate the flowers and then we all fill it in.", she says.

Down the Onam memory lane

Just like other festivals, Onam also brings people and especially the members of a family together. It's a festival where everybody is doing something. Be it the kids plucking the flowers, or the grandparents feeding sadhya in your mouth, or everybody else, who is helping in the preparation of sadhya, or Pookkalam, there's a beauty that we can't unsee. Sharing one of her happiest memories with us, Pheba says that once her grandmom started telling the childhood stories of her mom and siblings. "There was so much laughter in that room when she reminded my parents about some of their most embarrassing moments. Since that day, we all sit with our grandmom and listen to these stories and laugh our hearts out.", she smiles.

Ashwathi reminisces about all the fun get-togethers and different Onam traditions. " I had once invited my non-Malayalee friends for lunch and made them eat the whole sadhya. They couldn't eat it, while I kept teasing them that if they don’t finish it, my parents will be angry. As a result, they ended up eating everything and couldn’t stand for at least ½ an hour.", she laughs.

For the last 2 years, we all have been home, and so the celebrations couldn't happen like how they used to be. But, that doesn't mean that the Lockdown Onam was boring! People made sure that celebrations were grand, but they kept it virtual. "Last year, we had to celebrate Onam with minimal arrangements due to the lockdown restrictions. It was the first time our entire family could not meet. Nevertheless, we made sure that everything went well. We did a Zoom meeting and had the Onam Sadya as a family and also performed the Kai Kotti Kali. I'd say, so far, yet so close.", says Anushri.

Joshua also feels that celebrating Onam together has become a memory itself. "For the last 2 years, we couldn't celebrate the Onam due to COVID-19 crisis. It was fun and joy earlier, especially when we were in school, and used to get a 10-day long holiday. All our cousins would gather and used to make sadhya.", he reminisces.

The last two years may have changed the way people celebrate Onam, but what remained unchanged is the spirit, enthusiasm, and excitement of people who celebrate this prosperous festival. Local Samosa wishes everybody a very happy Onam, and we hope you are enjoying every bit of this festival.

Also Read: Check these Onam Sadhya Deliveries in Delhi NCR, and enjoy a scrumptious Onam feast at home!

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