Onam is Kerala's great harvest and homecoming festival, kept over ten days in the solar month Ciṅṅam from Atham to Tiruvōṇam. On Tiruvōṇam, it is believed, King Mahābali, the just asura ruler, returns to visit his people. The Purāṇic story tells how Viṣṇu came as Vāmana, asked for three paces of land, covered the worlds in two and received Mahābali's head for the third, and then granted the king one visit a year. The festival also gives thanks for the Ciṅṅam harvest, and all of Kerala's communities keep it. How the day is fixed: The principal day is the one on which Tiruvōṇam (Śravaṇa) nakṣatra prevails at local sunrise while the sun is in Ciṅṅam (Siṃha). The ten days begin with Atham (Hasta) and close on Tiruvōṇam. Keep in mind: Tamil calendars call the month Āvaṇi, and other calendars reckon it as the sun in Siṃha, so the same day carries several month names. Malayalam New Year falls separately on Ciṅṅam 1, and Onam comes later in the same month. This year: The 2027 date shown here is worked out from sunrise at the place you chose, so in another city the same day can fall a day earlier or later. Pūkkaḷam: From Atham a flower carpet is laid in the courtyard each morning and grows a ring larger every day. On Tiruvōṇam the Tṛkkākkarayappan figure is set in the courtyard and Māvēli is welcomed with cries of ārppō. Onasadya: On Tiruvōṇam the family wears the new clothes called ōṇakkōṭi and sits down to the sadya on banana leaves. Aviyal, ōlan, kāḷan, sāmbār and payasam are among its many vegetarian dishes. Boat races and games: Snake-boat races, pulikkaḷi tiger dances, the women's kaikoṭṭikkaḷi and swings for the children fill the days. Āṟanmuḷa's boat race and Thrissur's pulikkaḷi are among the best known. Worth remembering: Balipāḍyami in the Dīpāvali season also honours Bali, but it is a separate festival. Vāmana Jayantī on Bhādrapada Śukla Dvādaśī and Malayalam New Year on Ciṅṅam 1 are likewise their own days. Every Kerala household keeps Onam in its own way, from the size of the pūkkaḷam to the order in which the sadya is served. The old saying that one should have the Onam feast even if it means selling one's land shows how much the day means. Malayali families far from Kerala, and homes in Kanyakumari and along the Karnataka border, keep it with the same joy. In the end it is best to follow the way the elders of one's own house have kept it.
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