Kerala’s
biggest festival – Onam brings 10 solid days of carnivals and celebrations this
august. The water channels of Kerala come alive with high-spirited boat races
and the main lands with royal marches of caparisoned elephants, music, dance,
elaborate ‘onasadya’ meals brightly decorated temples and streets with serial-lights and flowers.
Onam
is an ancient harvest festival which also celebrates the monsoons as well as
the annual visit of Asura King Mahabali – during whose reign it is said that
Kerala flourished. Onam is celebrated during the Malayalam month of Chingam
(August-Septermber) and lasts 10 days.
‘Vallamkali’
or the snake-boat-race is the high-point of Onam where the main boat races are
held in a 40-kms stretch on River Pamba – the third longest river of Kerala.
Lengthy snake-boats (chundans) which hold fifty oarsmen each participate in
ferocious races on all 10 days. These oarsmen not only paddle swiftly in
perfect coordination, they also sing in perfect rhythm while they race to win. Each
of these race-boats has 150 people aboard of which 125 are oarsmen; 4 are helmsmen
and 25 are singers. Vallamkali epitomizes perfect team play and all it takes is
one mistake of one oarsman to overturn the boat.
This
is also what brings thousands of non-resident Keralites and other tourists to
Kerala each year. You will find countless photographers and media perched on
the banks of river Pamba struggling to get a clear shot of the racing snake-boats
– standing amidst thousands of onlookers who themselves behave boisterously –cheering
for the boats.
The
rich Kerala cuisine cooked during the Onam days – the ‘Onasadya’ - comprises a lavish
9-course meal of 13 primary dishes - a veritable rainbow of colourful vegetables
cooked in fresh and flavourful locally grown ingredients and served in fresh
banana leaves. Onasadya is not only a convergence of culinary and cultural
influences of centuries; it is also one of the most colourful and attractive
displays of food in the world.
‘Onakalikal’
are games played on Onam with great fervor. This is one of the rare occasions
where you would get to witness the martial arts of archery (ambeyyal); combat
games (kayyankali); kabaddi (kutukutu); mask dances (kummattikali); dancing in
tiger-like body-paints (pulikali); folk dances of women (thumbithullal & kayikottikali);
and rugged ball games (talappanthukali) among other festivities.
‘Pookalam’
or traditional flower arrangements made on each morning in front of each house
during the Onam days is another colourful representation of festivities in
Kerala. Comprising 6-10 varieties of flower petals, the pookalam activity is a
joyous event among the Kerala women folk all over the state. You would get to
see some of the most creative and arty patterns and designs of flowers during
Onam.
The
dazzling parade of caparisoned elephants amidst incessant fireworks, music and
drum roll all day is worth all the struggle of earning one spot among the
thousands in the crowd alongside the parade route. More than 100 elephants
parade the main streets of all the major towns of Kerala.
The
Onam week has also been declared as the Tourism Week by the Kerala government
so that other people can visit and enjoy the true essence of Kerala at the
right time. And certainly, Onam is the best time of the year to visit Kerala!
Pix courtesy: Indianexpress, timesofindia, keralapix, loadtr, yahoogroups, fanimages, prinjuprasad.blogspot.
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