God’s own country – several places in the world are given with this nick name including Australia, NewZealand, Yokshire, United states and in the list there is an Indian state “Kerala” which is in the southern part of the country. Kerala is called as God’s own country for its natural fresh environment. ( If you had never visited Kerala, do, you would surely call “heaven – God’s own place”. I can assure you as I stayed in the heaven for 2 months)

Onam

And, let us get into the festival mood, Onam! Onam is a Hindu festival celebrated in Kerala which falls in the Malayalam month chingam (September in English, and do you know chingam in Tamil means “lion”). Onam is actually a harvest festival which is celebrated for 10 days. In every festival, there will be a special recipe list like cakes for christmas, the onam recipe is a bigggg list which includes rice, sambar, aviyal, pine apple, masala vada, payasam, injithair, kichadi etc., served in a huge banana leaf (imagine, how yummy it would be? the stuffs I mentioned here are only a few, there are a lot more, go google it 😛 :D) This feast is called “Onam sadya”.

Pookolam

Pookolam is a rangoli, beautifully made with flowers of different colors. This rangoli is one of the special types of rangoli depicted in a circular design. Nowadays, the designs and patterns have evolved as we are. The color and design of this art is supposed to bring positive vibe and peace.

Boat Race

Onam is one festival which survived westernisation and still several events of the celebration remains unchanged sticking to our tradition, proudly portraying our country’s culture and uniqueness. Boat race is one such game played as a part of onam festival in which several teams participate. Members of the team should row the boat to come first as usual as any other game.

Kerala saree

The beautiful white saree with golden prints and borders is worn during the festival. You know, the attire is totally a classic one which would definitely make any woman, a classic beauty. (Gift it to your loved ones, sure, they’ll love it. I had already got this in my collection)

Dance and Music

There can be no festival with out music and dance. And, Onam is no exception. Kathakali is the most popular dance form of kerala but there are also other forms like kummati kali. The theme of the dance are mostly from the epic stories of Ramayanam and mahabaratham.

Thiruvathara Kali is a classical dance by women in kerala saree. This dance is usually performed in circle around a kuththu vilakku (spiritual lamp) tapping foot and clapping.

Pulikali is another dance form performed by men dressed like tigers (puli – tiger; kali – dance)

That’s all in short about Onam. And, this year the traditional festival date falls on a sunday, september 7 (whenever a festival falls on sunday, it’s a bit sad thing as there won’t be any special holiday). The festival is celebrated by malayalis all over the world. Even when they are away from home, onam is celebrated with pookolam, kerala saree, onam recipe, thiruvathara kali.

Wish you all a happy onam! Enjoy! Cheers 🙂 !