Kerela, September 01: India is a multicultural country and now-a-days the festival of Onam is being celebrated in Kerala.
India have of cultures and languages, In terms of festivals we have plethora of festivals. Some are little know while some are very famous; Onam is a festival which is celebrated with much fanfare.
People consider Onam as festival of Kerala but the culture of country speaks that a festival is a festival for all the plebs of the country.
The story of the Onam like some other festival has some significance, talking about the Onam legend, the story goes as follows.
Onam Legend
Onam legend evolved from the story of a demon king who ruled Kerala. This king Mahabali had ruled Kerala before Lord Krishna’s Birth. Hindus consider Lord Krishna was born around 5000 years back. Therefore, the story might have happened before 5000 years. Lord Vishnu in the form of Vamana (Vamana avatar is one of Dasavatharam) begged 3 feet of land form King Mahabali. Once Mahabali has granted his wish, Vamana has taken his Universal form and with his 2 footsteps he measured all the universe including earth, heaven and sky. Since there was no place left for 3rd footstep of Vamana, Mahabali shown his head to Vamana to keep third footstep, as to keep up the promise he has given to Vamana. With that footstep Vamana pressed Mahabali to the world under the earth known as pathalam (Hindu mythology). However before pressing, him in to the pathalam, Lord Vishnu granted a boon to Mahabali. With that boon Mahabali is allowed to visit Kerala, once in every year. To convince the visiting king Mahabali, that the country is still prosperous as it was under his rule, Kerala people started celebrating that day as onam with lot of food and dance.
When is Onam:
Onam 2009 is on Wednesday second of September. The atham star that is 10 days behind of Onam is on 24th of August. From Atham onwards the Onam pookalam will start and ends on Onam day.
In Kerala, people celebrate onam in their house. However, in outside of Kerala normaly malayalee associations will conduct onam celebrations. All this function will have lot of cultural programs like bharatnatyam, mohiniyattam, and thiruvathira kali. In the Middle East countries like UAE, Kuwait and Oman, onam celebration will be in a bigger manner. Other countries like, Singapore, USA and Australia will have bigger celebrations. Known Film stars and famous writers will attend these functions as chief guests.
Onam.
Onam is the harvest festival of kerala:
As onam falls after the harvest season of Kerala, some people consider it as harvest festival of Kerala.
The President, Vice-President and Prime Minister today greeted people on the occasion of Onam and said the festival was a tribute to farmers.
In her message, President Pratibha Patil said,”May this auspicious harvest festival, which underlines the importance of agriculture in our country, inspire us to work for the progress and prosperity of our nation.”
Vice-President Hamid Ansari hoped that the festival will bring happiness and prosperity to the lives of all citizens, “especially our farmers who work hard for the well being of our nation”.
“The harvest festival is also a joyous tribute to the farmer. The festival inspires us to unity and brotherhood and to cherish our environment,” Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said in his message.
—Agencies