Thursday 11 September 2008

ONAM

My student, Sharveen, tells me that he and his family members will start celebrating Onam beginning tonight. According to him the date of the festival for 2008 is September 12 which is the same as the beginning of the first month of the Malayalam Calendar (Kolla Varsham) called Chingam.The celebrations will start even tonight and will go on until Saturday. When I sent him home, he told me that he would also be making the Kolaam outside his house as part of the celebration. Later tonight, he and his family will be attending a Pooja ceremony at the Mariamman temple in Sitiawan. To learn more about this festival, please read the excerpt below:

ONAM
Onam is an annual harvest festival, celebrated mainly in the Indian state of Kerala. It is the foremost festival among the cultural repertoire of Malayalees and falls during the month of Chingam (August-September) the first month of the Malayalam calender and lasts for ten days. Though it is essentially a harvest festival of Malayalees, mythologically it is linked to Malayalee-Hindu folktales. Like some other religious festivals in India, Onam is celebrated by people across all castes and faiths.
Significance of Onam
Onam has been part of Malayalee psyche for centuries. There are records of Onam being celebrated during the Sangam Age. Onam festivities have been recorded during the time of Kulasekhara Perumals around A.D 800. It is believed that during those days the whole of Chingam was celebrated as Onam season. After the rain drenched month of Karkidakam with its privations, Chingam is a welcome month for people in the state of Kerala. The festival is the harbinger of spring - signaling the start of the harvest season. Onam epitomizes the newfound vigor and enthusiasm of the season, and is celebrated with traditional fevour with visit to temples, family get-togethers, gifting each other clothes called Onakkodi and lots of merry making.

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