Onam is one of the Festival celebrated in kerala. As India is true multicultural country it is having countless numbers of festivals. There some are popular where others are limited to local village and districts. Onam is celebrated all over kerala and it is considered as State Festival.
Onam Legend :Onam is connected to a myth or story of old king (Mahabali) said to be ruled kerala 1000's of years before. As Hindus Considers Lord Krishna has born around 5000 years back and this story supposed to be happened 1000s of years before the birth of lord Krishna as Vishnu took Vamana form before lord Krishna form.
The incidents in that time made lord Vishnu to come to earth in the form of Vamana and press Mahabali to world under earth with his leg. Before pressing him to under earth Vishnu blessed Mahabali that every year on Thiruvonam star of chingam (Malayalam month) which falls in August or September. So the keralaits (popularly known as Malayalees their mother tongue is Malayalam) Celebrate that day with lot of food and dance to welcome their king who is visiting for world under earth.
Onam 2009:
Onam 2009 falls on September 2th. The atham which falls 10 days behind of Onam is on Augest 3r24rth. On atham usually onam pookalam will start and on ends on Onam day which is 10th day of pookalam.
Onam pookalam:-
Onam Pookalam is the art works done by flowers in front of kerala house for Onam. It will start from atham star and ends on Onam. The pookalam has to be removed everyday morning, clean the floor and put fresh one in next day with fresh flowers. In olden days the kerala was totally an agricultural country and the month of chingam is just after the monsoon. So there was plenty of Flower available to do pookalam in a grand color. The flowers which were unique in kerala like thumpapoo, kakkapoo which were available at large at olden days. But these flowers are not even able to seen nowadays. So the creation of pookalam is greatly depends on imported flowers from neighboring states like Tamilnadu. It is normal that price of flowers going up on Onam season. Lot of Onam pookalam competition will be conducted by associations in kerala and outside -in other states and in abroad. We can expect onam 2008 also will mark lot of onam competition.
Onam celebrations:
Normally kerala the onam is celebrated in houses but in outside kerala onam functions will be conducted with Malayalee associations. Lot of malayalee associations are already declared their onam celebration for 2008. All this function will host lot cultural programs like bharatnatyam, mohiniyattam, and thiruvathira kali. Onam celebrations in Middle east countries like UAE, Kuwait, Oman and other countries like, Singapore, USA, Australia will be done in bigger manner. Normally either film stars or famous writers will be attended this functions.
Onam dance:
Thiruvathira kali is one of the main dances for onam. It is performed by group of women with 8, 10, or 12 members. They will be dressed in kerala Traditional dress and dance with rhythmic steps against thiruvathira songs. Thiruvathira songs will be usually Hindu devotional songs about Krishna or other gods. We can expect lot of videos will be appearing on youtube after these functions.
Onam is harvest festival of kerala:
As onam falls after the harvest of kerala harvest season which starts from June (Monsoon Rain), some are considering it as harvest festival of kerala.
Vegetables:
As the demand of vegetable in onam season usually increase. Due to this the price of Vegetables will go up. To control this normally kerala government under its civil supply corporation use to start Onam market known as Onachandha. These markets will be stopped after the season. Usually There will be heavy rush and crowds on this market as vegetable will be considerably cheap in these market. However in 2008 since we face global shortage of food and vegetable it will be very difficult for the government to provide the vegetable at fair price. However we can hope that presence of these markets will control the price of vegetable and commodities to a certain level on onam season.
Onam Greeting Cards
Normally sending of greeting card for onam has become a tradition in between Malayalees. Lots of cards are available in the shop, with various subject like vallam kali (Boat race), kathakali, and sceneries from various parts of kerala. Not only that almost all online greeting card sites are given a fair importance for this festival. Almost all of them is having minimum of 10 cards to cater the needs of Onam.
365greetings.com have lot of cards at their onam card section with kerala subject. They have lot of flash cards as well as normal image cards with onam theme on it.
