Keralites hark back to a utopian pastoral past as they celebrate Onam worldwide

The celebrations for the festival’s 2023 edition continue to rage on among Keralites, full of family feasts, floral decorations, fireworks, fresh clothes, community gatherings, and other forms of revelry, while sadya is served pervasively, in prisons and police stations alike

Keralites continued to celebrate Thiru Onam, a festival monumentalising a utopian, egalitarian, non-discriminatory pastoral past that primarily existed in myth and imagination, with family feasts, floral decorations, fireworks, new clothes, group games and exchange of gifts, on Monday and Tuesday.

Beyond the superficial glitter of the fiercely commercialised high-decibel holiday, multiple generations gathered at the family table to enjoy a spread of ethnic dishes laid out in abundance on emerald green banana leaves.

Swings, tug-of-war competitions, and indigenous pastimes such as “Kuttiyum Kolum, pole climbing and Uriyadi” marked the latter half of the day.

The short-and-sweet fable of Mahabali, a folkloric king banished to the netherworld by gods jealous of his just rule, lies at the centre of the Onam tradition.

The celebration marks the fictional king’s return, albeit for a day, to visit his subjects, thanks to a temporary redemption granted by the gods who had exiled him.

Over the decades, Mahabali, popularly portrayed as a rotund genial and garishly ornamented monarch, has emerged as the festival’s mascot.