A plant the locals use during the celebration
We are on the road, suddenly the driver breaks as the car in front starts to break as well. BAAAM…we have our first adventure-crash. The car behind us didn’t realize we were slowing down and hit our taxi. It scared the hell out of us! Now, let’s forget of the crash for a second but why is everybody breaking? Why there are soooo many cars in front of us, here in the small town of Munnar during the low season? The answer is: Onam. Something that we weren’t aware of, something that even though we had our first little accident in India, we were lucky to find out. The Onam Festival!
A beautiful flower
The Onam (Malayalam: ഓണം) is a traditional harvest festival celebrated in the state of Kerala and elsewhere where Malayalam-speaking populations have settled. It falls in the Malayalam calendar month of Chingam, which in Gregorian calendar overlaps with August–September. Everybody is on holidays for this festivity! As a tradition, they prepare beautiful flower arrangements called pookkalam.
Some of the festivities that includes the Onam Festival are Onathallu (martial arts), Kummati kali (mask dance) and Atthachamayam (folk song and dance). The festival brings back Hindu mythologies associated with Mahabali, Vishnu, Kashyapa and Parashurama. In Kerala (especially during these festival days) is very frequent to see Kathakali, an art form that involves drums, performances, stunning dresses and intricate make-up. The whole thing starts with a commentary on the dance part and it’s followed by the actual performance.
Two artists during a kathakali show
For us it was really interesting to know that the Onam is the New Year celebration for Malayali Hindus.
So yeah! Everybody is full of joy during these days. People visit their families and go to certain special places to celebrate the Onam Festival, reason why there are so many cars queuing on the narrow roads of Kerala.
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