A festival that unites
From Bengalis to Konkanis, every community in Kerala is gearing up to celebrate Onam.
The fervor in the air named Onam is widely known as a celebration of unity and prosperity for all Malayalis across the world. The harvest, feast, floral carpets and shopping spree add to the excitement and joy. Though it is popularly touted as the Malayali festival, history reveals that Onam, in ancient days, was celebrated all over Southern kingdoms, especially in Tamil Nadu. Over the years, as kingdoms perished and rituals underwent the inevitable revamp, Onam was tagged as ‘Kerala’s own festival’, but that hasn’t stopped non-Malayalis from joining the jamboree.
From the Gujarati, Bengali and Patel community members to the Konkanis, Kannadigas and Tamilians, everyone settled in Kerala for decades celebrate the secular festival with all its Malayala thanima.
For the Gujarati family of Hansa Jayanth, a boutique owner in Kozhikode, Onam is as important a festival as Navratri. “It’s my parents who came to Kerala for business and settled here. My siblings and I were born here, so I am a Keralite more than a Gujarati,” she says.
Every year, they celebrate Onam the traditional way, with pookalam, sadya, payasam, songs and get-togethers. “This year, my mother is coming down from Rajkot and so is my sister from Calcutta to take part in the celebrations,” a happy Hansa says. According to her, there are over 400 Gujarati families in Kozhikode, many of whom live around the Jain Temple and Gujarati Street.
Only recently did the Agarwal community members celebrate Onam in Kochi as a grand event with thiruvathirakali, sadya and various games.
For the Konkani-speaking community in Kochi, it’s not Thiruvonam that is auspicious, but the day after. “Aavani Avittam, for us, is a very special day marked by pujas and ceremonies like upaakarma, during which the men change their poonool (sacred thread),” says Chandrababu Shetty, a Konkani Kochiite who works with the Crime Branch.
The Konkanis also hold an annual kite festival on the day. “Here, we gather at Fort Cochin beach and fly kites. Now there are several restrictions and people have lost interest. But still, we keep the traditions alive,” he says. The month of Shravan (which coincides with Malayalam month Chingam) is holy for them. On all Sundays of the month, married women in the community perform a special floral puja and wear a bunch of five flowers – which they call choodo – in their hair; the custom is called choodya aythaar.
It’s the season of celebration of unity for everyone in God’s Own Country despite their cultural, lingual and traditional differences. As the song goes, Maanusharellarum onnu pole!