How Kerala celebrates its 10-day long Onam festival
Introduction: The festival of Onam is one of the most important cultural and religious festivals of Kerala, which brings people together as a community. It is celebrated in the month of Chingam, for ten days. Onam Festival 2019 Day 1: Atham: This is the first day, and people start visiting the temples very early in the morning. Keralites believe that King Mahabali also gets ready to descend from Pathala to Kerala on this day. “Athachamayam”, or the initiation of the celebration, is marked by the grand procession at Tripunithura near Kochi. This is the place where Mahabali is believed to have been exiled to Pathala. People decorate the place with Pookalam (floral carpet). It is important to note that the size of the pookalam is small on day 1, and increases as the days pass. Day 2: Chithira Intense cleaning of the house takes place, followed by a nice second layer of flowers to the pookalam. Day 3: Chothi The Pookalam gains on...