Kerala festivals-Onam cultural festival of kerala

Happy Onam to all Keralites from pixelshots..Onam the regional festival of Kerala and the most celebrated festival by all Malayalis all over the world..The festival is the celebration of prosperity and happiness inspite of any religion or cast in Kerala..Accompanied by flowers and feasting lunch in plantain leaf the celebration lasts for 10 days..Designing flowers infront of houses in special circular patterns is a custom in Kerala during Onam season.

The flowers infront of houses are laid early in the morning by children and it is meant to welcome the King Mahabali, who's belived to be visiting his old land of Kerala during Onam..hmm its a mythological story..

All the children will be in great enthusiasm with varieties of celebrations and playing games specially related to the festival..Onam comes usually in late August or early Septembers, and visiting Kerala at this time will give tourists the real taste of culture and harmony in the God's Own country, Kerala..Along with the games played commonly at this season like vallam kalis(boat races)in the backwaters of kerala, vadamvali (tug of war), kalamadi(trying to break clay pot after wrapping eyes with towel) and many games..Kadhakali the traditional and cultural artforms of Kerala is played during the time in many cultural centres..


athapookkalam during onam in kerala,flower decorations in onam kerala,athapookalam in onam photographed from a flower laying ,athapookala competition held in kerala 
Athapookkalam from kerala during Onam festival.
The traditional custom of laying  flowers infront of houses in particular patterns in circles during Onam.Usually done by children and they enjoys the things like getting up early mornings and going to collect the flowers and doing the activities together..
Hmm have to say the traditions are diminishing gently from everywhere, now these are getting restricted to competitions done in schools and colleges at the time of Onam than in the courtyards of houses.And i confess the above pookkalam ie flower design, is also from a competition held in some churches here for childrens....
 flowers of kerala,onam flowers kerala,flower bunch from home gardens in kerala india,flower in onam season
The festival of flowers...Onam in Kerala..
The festival is based on a Hindu Mythology about a king Mahabali..He was an Asura King and was soo Kind and good..His good deeds made the Gods or the Devas jealous on him and they planned to stop his rule and as a result Lord Mahavishnu goes to his country in the name as Vamana and asks him to give him 3 foot of land..

The good minded Mahabali gives him the permission to take 3 foots of land and Vamana grows sky Tall in a sudden, and takes whole Earth and Heaven in 2 foots.. And for the third foot the King Mahabali shows his head, and Vamana pushed him down to earth with his feet.. Before going down under earth Mahabali asks Vamana a boon to visit his country once in a year, and he grants it..Believed the time Mahabali comes to visit his people and country from under earth is the time of Onam..This is the story behind..Obviously the Myth behind Onam....

I really fear the coming generations may gradually lose this festival which is a part of kerala's culture, for now itself the celebrations are diminishing.. Everything getting restricted to the television channels in the form of movies and interviews..And people just sitting infront of them, and we are losing the real joy of the festival..

There may be a time when a Malayali or Keralite searches www.google.com, to know what is Onam..gosh.!! hope it won't happen....Happy Onam to all my beloved Keralites.. And mind you the festival is not restricted to Keralites, we welcome you all over the world to join us in the Celebrations.. Kerala always welcomes you to enjoy with us in all celebrations here...With love
Share on Google Plus

About pixelshots

1 comments:

  1. It sounds like a wonderful festival, and the flower designs are beautiful.

    ReplyDelete

Have Your Feelings And Thoughts Expressed Here As Comments.More information if you have any about this post, suggestions to improve Kerala blog pixel-shots,criticism etc are welcome except spamming.