Onam has a handful of characteristics compared to other festivals. All the good things of the universe like harvest festival, birthday month, national festival, agricultural festival are dissolved in Onam. So every Malayali waits for this festival of unity and prosperity.
Sravanam, which dispels the blackness and dispels the dark clouds, shining with golden rays, is a light in the minds of the Malayali. A smiling lion bathed in the Karkatakapaint and full of flowers is a sight of colour. Onaveil, Onanilau, Onapoos and Onathumbi are the signs belonging only to Shravana. Illamnira and Vallamnira ceremonies are also a prelude to Onam. This farming method means that golden and green pulses are grown and ripen for Onam, called Karchakulas, Uthratakulas and Upperikulas. The harvest in the field is also the Onamunnan. Although the name is Kannikoith, the rice is ripe enough to be harvested within a few days after it starts in the month of Leo. Onam is the time when the Malayali home and yard is cleaned the most. When Onam comes to clear the forest and all the undergrowth, Onam comes by covering the snow from the darkness and squeezing the sun. We are all looking forward to the resurrection of Onam. As for the children, they can play for ten days as the Onam exam is over before Onam. You can climb the forest and meadows looking for flowers.
There is no Kora-Kubera Bheda for Onam. Everyone prepares Onam according to their ability. Onam is a festival where the servants and tenants wish to have a new year in Enen’s house when the new year of Thiruvonam comes.
Nature is undoubtedly what makes Onam so auspicious. Onam is like spring when all the plants and trees compete to bloom. When the flowers bloom, bees and butterflies fly to them for honey. The sunshine on clear days is a delight to the eyes.
Harvest time brings joy to everyone alike. Because harvest time is a time when they are not hungry. Also, the handicrafts they make and household items like vattis, kutta, ropes and mats are in demand during Onam. It can generate income. There is a good market for grains and crops these days. Also, the common man likes Onam, where there is room for handicrafts.
Onam is also a festival of cleanliness, beauty and taste. No matter how small the house is, everyone tries to clean it as much as possible during Onam by sweeping it, cutting the grass and the waste plants. For cloth merchants, jewellers, florists, tailors and those who make a living doing different jobs, Onam is a time of prosperity. Onam is the dream of the needy, when the crops are blessed, the days and nights are bright, and job security and income come. There is no Malayali who does not prepare Ona Sadya.
It is like the trumpet of social transformation in the call of Edassery flowers.
Onam for social life –
The flowers are blooming
Sing, dear honey
Half a dozen more songs… and poet Thirunallur Karunakaran
Oname Depression –
Dhikarikurjjwala-
Pranakayita you –
Yetirelkunnu we… always sing. If the Onam festival is part of the harvest season of the people of Kerala and the subsequent feasts, Onam is also a time of folk art, local traditions and poetic memories associated with Onam.
Kooth, Kuiyattam, Kathakali, Kavyakeli, Tullal and Thumpitullal are staged on Onam as the beauty of Kerala art. Although Onam is celebrated so much, the difference between the haven and those who have failed to change cannot be considered degradation.
The real enjoyment of Onam is in realizing the social concept of good people, without evils or vices. Child deaths do not occur in the presence of a community of committed adults. Adults will lead the way as role models for the children. Corruption and immorality are not even there.
It will come with luck
Wear good jewelry
Girls, boys and others
A time of living in righteousness
If it is to be recreated, the people who live here must be the ones who adapt it and pass it on to the next generation.
Beyond the Mahabali-Vamanic story, Onam has a Samata plot. There is an air of honesty. There is a sense of unity. There is peace without invasions.
Centuries ago, there existed a ruler who was interested in the people and an egalitarian style of governance. The story of Mahabali is full of illogical and impractical concepts. However, every Keralite would like to believe that this is true. They look forward to that time when there will be no epidemics.
Standing in the midst of today’s problems
Plant a plant
How to pinch Lonapoo?
No field is closed and sown –
How to cook sour cream?
Banana planting –
How to eat Lonaphala?
Even one thread is a hundred-
How to wear lonathuni?
Oagamolipahakee-
How to sing a lona song?
Spread love in each other.
What games to play?
Crayfish inside
How to get a golden dawn?!
NV Words written by Krishna Warrier come to mind.
Srikala Chingoli
