Its Onam

Its Onam... Thought it may be a good idea to write something on Onam, My favourite festival. This post has some background on Onam.

Onam is a harvest festival celebrated in Kerala by all Keralites irrespective of their religion or caste. Onam celebrates the visit of King Mahabali to Kerala every year. The festival is celebrated with great passion as King Mahabali is greatly respected by his subjects. Keralites call King Mahabali, Maveli and Onathappan.

Onam - The Story Behind:

The story behind Onam is very interesting. It goes that Kerala was once ruled by a demon king, Mahabali. The King was greatly respected in his kingdom and was considered to be wise, judicious and extremely generous. It is said that Kerala witnessed its golden era in the reign of King Mahabali. Everybody was happy in the kingdom; there was no discrimination on the basis of caste or class. Rich and poor were equally treated. There was neither crime, nor corruption. People did not even lock their doors, as there were no thieves in that kingdom. There was no poverty, sorrow or disease in the reign of King Mahabali and everybody was happy and content.

As every should have a twist, looking at the growing popularity and fame of King Mahabali, Gods became extremely jealous. They felt threatened and began to think of a strategy to get rid of Mahabali. Gods requested the help of Lord Vishnu.

It was well known that Mahabali was very generous and charitable. Whenever anybody approached him for help or requested for anything he always granted. To test the King, Lord Vishnu disguised himself as a poor Brahmin called Vamana. He came to the Kingdom of Mahabali, just after Mahabali performed his morning prayers and was preparing to grant boons to Brahmins.

The Vamana asked for a simple gift — three paces of land — and the king agreed to it. The King was surprised to hear but agreed. Though the learned adviser of the King, Shukracharya sensed that Vamana was not an ordinary person and warned the King against making the promise. But, the generous King replied that it would be a sin for a King to back on his words and asked the Brahmin to take the land. Poor King never imagined that the dwarf Brahmin was Lord Vishnu himself.

As soon as King Mahabali agreed to grant the land, Vishnu in the guise of Vamana then increased his stature and with the first step covered the sky, blotting out the stars, and with the second, straddled the netherworld. Realising that Vamana's third step will destroy the earth, Mahabali offered his head as the last step. Vamana placed his foot on the head of the King, which pushed him to the nether world. There the King requested the Brahmin to reveal his true identity. Lord Vishnu then appeared before the King in his person. The Lord told the King that he came to test him and the King won the test. King Mahabali was pleased to see his lord. Lord Vishnu also granted a boon to the King.

The King was so much attached with his Kingdom and people that he requested that he be allowed to visit Kerala once in a year. Lord Vishnu was moved by the Kings nobility and was pleased to grant the wish. He also blessed the King and said even after losing all his worldly possessions, the King would always be loved by Lord Vishnu and his people.

Onam is the celebration that marks the homecoming of King Mahabali. It is the day when a grateful Kerala pays a glorious tribute to the memory of this benign king who gave his all for his subjects. Every year people make elaborate preparations to welcome their King.

Festivities of Onam continue for ten long days. Of all these days, most important ones are the first day, Atham and the last or tenth day, Thiru Onam. Celebrations commence from the first day, Atham. Notable feature of this day is that making of Pookkallam or the flower carpet that starts from this day. Attha Poo is prepared in the front courtyard by girls of the house to welcome the spirit of King Mahabali. In the following days, more flowers are added to Pookalam. As a result Pookalam turns out to be of massive size on the final day. 

Off course, there is lot of great food too. Be it breakfast or lunch. Typical breakfast consists of steamed bananas and fried pappadam (pappad). Lunch is a very elaborate meal consists of 11 to 13 strictly vegetarian dishes.

Onam Sadhya

Apart from preparation, the presentation or serving of sadhya is a tradition itself. It is in 'Banana' leaves the sadhya is served, the Kerala style of having sadhya is sitting on the floor with the end of the narrow part of the leaf facing left. The way of eating a sadhya is another art which helps easy digestion of the heavy menu. There is a fixed order of serving the meal and a set place to serve the various dishes on the leaf. A lot of preparation and hard work goes in making of the scrumptious Onasadya. 

The serving has its own Do's and Dont's. Serving should start from the bottom left of the leaf with a pinch of salt and banana, a series of side dishes follow this pattern.

From left to the right of the plantain leaf the items that comes are

1. Pappadam:.........Pappad or Pappadum is to be served on the extreme left.
2. Banana:..............On top of the big pappadum banana is served.
3. Sarkara Varatti:..Right of pappad - salt, banana wafers, sarkaravaratti fries are served.
4. Pickle:..................After this, mango pickles is served.
5. Inchicurry:.........Then inchicurry (ginger lime) is served.
6. Thoran:...............On the right, thoran curry is served
7. Olan:...................
8. Avial:..................
9. Pulissery:............
10. Kichadi:..............
11. Kalan:.................
12. Koottucurry:......The meal will be complete with the kootu curry.
13. Water:................

Apart from these side dishes, the other dishes to follow are

1. The rice, served at the bottom center of the leaf.
2. Then, Parippu curry along with Ghee Is served.
3. Then, rice with Sambhar is served.
4. Next we have Rasam and Mooru.
5. After this delightful meal, we have the sweet and tasty 'Paayasam' along with some Pappadam.
6. Traditionally it is advised to have some rice along with Mooru after Paayasam for helping digestion.

Phew! Too much? Off course you can ditch every instruction and go ahead as you wish. It is the spirit of Onam which is more important!

Thanks to below sites which helped me with my research! 

http://www.onamfestival.org

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Onam

http://recipes4hunger.blogspot.in/2010/03/onam-sadhya-how-to-prepare-onasadya-how.html