Onam/Thiruvonam - The Festival Of Food
Why do we celebrate Onam?
Onam is a ten days long festival celebrated by Malayalis in Kerala or in any part of the world. It is an official festival of the Kerala state celebrated to mark the visit of the Great King Mahabali. It is also said that it is celebrated to mark the harvest season in Kerala. The most important day of this ten days long festival is the tenth day which is also known as Thiruvonam. So people usually interchangeably use the terms Thiruvonam and Onam.
According to the legends, King Mahabali, who belonged to the demon clan, was very mighty, extremely generous and was cherished by his people. It is believed that Mahabali defeated the gods and took over the three worlds; Earth, Heaven and Nether World. This made the gods angry and they asked Lord Vishnu to help them get back their kingdom. Vishnu took the Vamana Avatar and requested Mahabali to give him just his three steps of land. Upon acceptance, the Vamana Avatar started getting enlarged and covered heaven and earth in just two steps. To keep his words, Mahabali offered Vishnu his head for the third step. Vamana pushed Mahabali to the nether world with his third step. But Lord Vishnu was so impressed by the generosity of Mahabali that he granted permission to the king to visit his people once a year. So it is believed that every year on the day of Thiruvonam King Mahabali visits his people from Patala Loka, the nether world.
Keralite people celebrate this ten days event with great passion and devotion. People clean their houses, decorate it with flower carpets and make designs at the entrance of the house with rice paste to welcome the king. On the day of Thiruvonam, which is the main day of this festival, people wake up early to get ready and give donations to the needy. Sadya, a grand food platter is served on banana leaves which is the main highlight of Onam. The dishes include banana chips, yam chips, pappad, pickles, khichdi and sweet dishes. In the evening, various games including boat races and cultural events are performed.
We hope you now have a better idea on why do we celebrate onam? May your life be filled with prosperity just like the abundance of Onam Sadya. Happy Onam!
