Onam is the most celebrated festival by all in Kerala South India, and it’s a 10 day celebration. The 10th day of Onam is called Thiruvonam and this year, it falls on 21st August, which is today. For many of us, who are still limited in movement with Covid lockdowns, we celebrate where and how we can, at home, and reminiscent about past years’ celebrations. This is my 4th Onam yearly Onam post in Connect, and I really wish someone else could also write about their Onam experiences as well 
, since there could only be so many permutations of a personal celebration that may happen. Onam post 2020, Onam Post 2019, Onam Post 2018.
Onam is a festival celebrated only by people from Kerala and of Kerala origin, known as Malayalis or Keralites. Onam is originated possibly from a harvest festival, and now is more of a secular celebration celebrated by most if not all people of Kerala origin now matter where they are in the world, and no matter what religion they are. During these 10 days, families get together, many meaningful cultural programs take place and on the 10th day, families get together for the Onam feast, known as the Onasadhya which is probably the most awaited event for Onam.
Picture below: One very important decorative feature of Onam is the Pookalam or flower arrangement, where beautiful symmetrical patterns are laid on the ground and then overlaid with different color flower petals to create a beautiful decoration.
This picture below is an older photo before the pandemic located in Center Square Mall in Ernakulam Kerala (https://goo.gl/maps/znHqjAwSjQu4qs1B6 )
Picture below: The main historical legend of Onam comes from the story of King Mahabali, fondly known as King Maveli, coming back from the underworld to visit his beloved people of Kerala each year during Onam. So, during Onam, it’s very common to see people dressing up as Maveli to give blessing to everyone. To know about the legend of Maveli, there are many videos online, this is an example video.
Below are older photos taken pre pandemic of me and my many experiences bumping into Maveli. I will try to dress up as Maveli next year for sure.
Picture below: During the Onam season also, this year called off due to the pandemic, there are many big snake boat races throughout many locations in Kerala, since it’s also the end of the Monsoon season and most of the backwaters are filled with water. 2 places for such incredible boat races known as Vallamkali (boat competition), is in the waterways leading to Lake Vembanad in Alappuzha, as well as Aranmulla in Pathanamthitta in Kerala.
The photos below are pre pandemic.
Picture below: Another very important cultural program during Onam festival is the Pulikali (leopard/tiger play) each year on the 4th day of Onam. This takes place in the center square of Thrissur in Kerala.
Again these pictures below are pre pandemic and at its peak, there could be about 100 thousand people attending. This year, this program is also called off due to Covid.
This year, I am stuck at home alone, and I really didn’t want to miss out joining all Malayalis around the world having Onasadhya (Onam feast), so the only way is to make it myself. It’s a vegetarian feast with at least 20 items, and many of the dishes use specific vegetables or rice that is mainly grown in Kerala.
Picture below: This morning (literally), after getting up, started cutting and chopping all the different vegetables (not everything in picture), and trying to plan which way to cook 25 items, alone, in a few hours.
Picture below: And thank goodness after 3 hours of cutting, cooking, tasting, and cleaning, 25 dishes were ready on my table. The rice used during Onasadhya is a very special red rice grown in the Palakkad district of Kerala, known as the Palakkad Matta Ari rice. This rice is possibly one of the best rice to soak up vegetable gravy and has a reddish color, and cooks into a nice plump round grain.
Picture below: Traditionally Onasadhya has to be eaten on a banana leaf, which I don’t have today, so a giant plate would suffice. To read more about Sadhya, refer to the long article in Wikipedia here. After placing everything on a plate, this was my Onasadhya today. It was a lot of food for me. all vegetarian.
Picture below: During Onam as well, we dress up in Mundu (wrap around linen with a gold strip / kara), and usually a long sleeve shirt or for me a kurta today. Today, we sent thousands of messages to friends and loved ones all around the world with the greeting in Malayalam language Onam Ashamsakal (Happy Onam), and chat with Malayali friends from all over the world.
This is a short post on Onam this year for me. I really encourage Local Guides from Kerala to also share your own special Onam story.
Please also join us for our Onam meetup on 22nd August 2021 at 4pm IST. The link to our meetup here below
Happy Onam everyone. എല്ലാര്ക്കും ഓണാശംസകൾ.
. And you cooked 25 dishes as well! I really love to see the flower arrangements here. So colorful & beautiful indeed 
