Onam - the state festival of Kerala

"Happy Onam!" These were probably the words which we heard most often during the last week. We heard them not only from all the VOSARD staff, but all the neighbours and members of Self Help Groups. Florian and me could participate in these celebrations. But before I start to describe our impressions, I will just give you some background information:

Onam is actually a Hindu festival, but celebrated by Malayalis (population of Kerala) of all religions. It is also the official state festival of Kerala. The people celebrate the homecoming of the mythical king Mahabali from the underworld:

There is a myth that Mahabali ruled the area of Kerala in the past. At this time all the people were equal, free from harm, there were no lies and all the people formed one casteless society. Utopia. Because of these positive living conditions which he gave to the people of Kerala, he was very popular. Gods felt a danger due to the increasing popularity of Mahabali and so they asked Vishnu for help. Vishnu created an avatar of a poor and small Brahmin, Vamana. This avatar went to Mahabali after his morning prayer. At this time the king always gave boons to the Brahmins.

Vamana, the avatar of Vishnu, asked for as much land as he can cover by three footsteps. The king promised to provide the land, but suddenly the size of Vamana increased. With two steps only he covered both the earth and the sky and asked for a place to put his third step. As he saw no other possibility, Mahabali told Vamana to put the third step on his head. Mahabali was then pushed deep into the soil - to the underworld. He asked Vishnu for permission to visit Kerala and his people once a year. He got the permission. 

Picture of the king Mahabali at the VOSARD Administrative Office

Because of that the Onam celebration is once a year: To celebrate the homecoming of Mahabali. For ten days per year the people try to show Mahabali that they live together according to his conceptions: equal, free, without harm in one casteless society. And of course the religion should not matter as well, everybody should celebrate it together. That's the theory behind it. I am not able to judge if the Onam festival really unifies the people living in Kerala, I can only describe my impressions:

In Kumily and the surrounding villages there are various celebrations of Onam. I would like to give you a few impressions of the ones we joined.

Senior Citizens Project - Self Help Groups

For example we visited the Onam celebration of Self Help Groups of the Senior Citizens Project of VOSARD. The members of the Self Help Groups organised different activities by themselves. For one game they hung picture of a woman's face on the wall. All the participants had to walk towards the picture with bonded eyes and place a Bindi (forehead decoration for women, placed between the eyes) at its right position . Even if not everybody put the Bindi at the right place, all the participants had lots of fun playing the game.

Another competition is very popular for Onam: The creation of Pookalams, floral carpets made out of gathered blossoms with several varieties of flowers. There were formed three groups. Every group had one hour to prepare a Pookalam. Not only the members of the Senior Citizens Self Help Groups participated, also many children of the neighbourhood. After that, a jury honored the group which prepared the most beautiful one.

A group of girls preparing a Pookalam

Celebration at the VOSARD Administrative Office

This Friday, there was a small celebration of Onam at the Administrative Office of VOSARD. Even if most of the VOSARD staff are Christians, they celebrate the Onam festival. But some of them told us that they don't celebrate it as big as Hindus do it. Also in my impression it was not a big celebration at VOSARD. The staff and a few neighbours celebrated. But everybody enjoyed themselves a lot. There were several other activities too: Some of the staff sang a song, others performed a dance. Of course, the game with the Bindis which should be put at the right position of a women's face on a picture was played again (instead of Bindis we used pens). Today Florian and me participated too. For us - as well as for all the others who participated - it was not easy to find the picture at all due to the fact that we were turned around several times before we could start searching the picture.

One of the VOSARD staff finally found the picture and guesses the right position to mark.

Celebration with the tuition class of one VOSARD staff

On Sunday, 7th September, we visited the tuition class of one of the VOSARD staff. After eating a special meal, the Onam sadya, served on plantain leaves, we did several activities with the children. There was singing and dancing, but also sport competitions: E. g. they had to take a spoon with a lemon in their mouth and run without dropping it. Florian and me organised one activity as well: We sang a song together with the childs which we knew from the preparation workshops in Germany. The children enjoyed it a lot and lateron asked us to play again. At the end of the day all the participants gave a long vote of thanks to us - even if we only organised one game (and performed two short dances) and they provided us foods, drinks and lots of fun all day. 

Onam sadya - served on plantain leaves: On the Onam days most of the Malayalis only eat veg food.

There was one thing about the Onam festival that confused me: How should a festival that is actually a Hindu celebration help to unify people of all the religions? Maybe it is because of peoples' interest in other religions and their open mindedness. Many of the VOSARD staff members who are Christians could tell me a lot about the festival. They show great respect to the religious practices of Hindus by beeing part of the Onam celebration. It is also the official celebration of the Kerala federal state.

In spite of that I have met people who don't participate at the Onam celebrations. They are Christians and told me that they don't celebrate it because they don't have much contact with Hindus.

So what I found out is this: The Onam festival helps to unify people with different social backgrounds or different religions in some cases. But even if it is the state festival of Kerala, not everybody who lives in Kerala participates. Of course I can not say anything about how it works in other parts of Kerala. My statements are only based on my own experiences.

Manuel