• Rekha Mathews
• August 12, 2021

Onam is well-recognised to be the biggest festival in Kerala. The festival is celebrated once a year, with high amount of joyousness and happiness. In 2021, it is dated to get conducted from August 12 to August 23, which is during the Malayalam month of Chingam. People of Kerala eagerly wait for the festival to arrive every year, because it brings together the heart of people along with desperate love for each other. Onam is a kind of festival, which is celebrated maintaining every tradition and culture of Kerala, making it very unique to executing different occasions.

The festival doesn’t differentiate among religions, rather it involves each kind to be a hardcore part till the end. But out of all the religions, Hindus hold an important significance towards the occasional arrangements of this ancient Onam festival. The grand festivities and gala are eye-catching for all the people of Kerala while celebrating the festival, which mainly eliminates all the religious boundaries. Other than Hindus, the Christians of Kerala also celebrate this festival with lots of zeal. The rituals of Christians in the Onam festival include lighting of Nilavilakku (followed by Arati, and waving of flowers over the bible called Pushparati), and alongside, they eat meal with Hindus settling down together.

Discussing of the festivities, there are mainly 6 events celebrated in the overall Onam festival in a huge manner. These events mainly focus on the exceptional beauty of the culture and traditions among every religion, making the festival most beautiful on earth.

Tripunithura Athachamayam

This event marks the first day of the Onam festival, and celebrated with great zeal and enthusiasm. This event is a colourful inaugural ceremony of Oman festival, where decorated elephants with Kerala art forms, musicians, dancers and carnival floats walk down the streets.

Pookalam

Pookalam is mainly referred as the festival of flowers. This is a ritual in the Onam festival, where people open up their heart while decorating grounds with flowers, usually at the door fronts and temples. Undoubtedly, women have expertized in this field.

Vallamkali

Onam’s fascinating snake boat race is famous all over India. Here, Vallamkali is only referred as the snake boat race. The race happens on the Pampa River in a grand way. The snake boat race includes Aranmula Uthrattathi boat race and Nehru Trophy boat race. This race gives a thrilling experience even when watching, and might give consecutive goosebumps.

Pulikali

Pulikali or the Grand Tiger Dance was started 200 years ago, where the former king of Kochi took the legacy forward, reflecting manliness. During the Onam festival, thousands of people get painted for the great grand dance on the streets. The dance is usually performed on traditional music.

Onam Sadya

Onam Sadya is the festival of food, where ‘Onasadya’ means the ‘Onam Feast’. The Onam festival is definitely incomplete without this event, being much highlighted of all. This is a nine-course meal, comprising of 11-13 traditional dishes which is served on banana leaves. This is a form of worship, which takes place from 10 am to 5 am for two consecutive days.

Folk Dances

This is the most highlighted event in the Onam festival, where people eager await the dances to happen. This is another traditional event, which is famous all over India, and always leaves marks on the people. During the folk dance event, women dress up in heavy dresses, and their dance form is Kaikottikali during King Mahabali is praised.

From the very beginning, and till the very end, from traditions to cultures, all are heartfully performed by every people in the state of Kerala due to love and affection for the Onam festival. At the end of the festival, people usually feel sad as they again have to wait till the next year, and also, they rewind the days they spent with heart bombing happiness. Not only the events, but also the people, who takes part in the events, make the Onam festival most beautiful, and leave a benchmark for other states and countries. People enjoy various discount offers while shopping online.