Onam 2027 — Sunday, 12 September 2027

Onam is the state festival of Kerala and the most important celebration of the Malayalam year, shared by people of every faith in the state. It falls in Chingam, the first month of the Malayalam calendar in most of Kerala, when the monsoon eases, the fields have been harvested and flowers are everywhere. The main day is Thiruvonam, named after the nakshatra Thiruvonam, called Shravana elsewhere in India, and the celebrations run for ten days from the day of Atham, the Hasta nakshatra.

The story behind Onam is that of Mahabali, an asura king and grandson of Prahlada, who ruled so justly that his kingdom knew no poverty, deceit or fear. The Bhagavata Purana, in its eighth book, tells how Vishnu came to him as Vamana, a small brahmin boy, and asked for as much land as he could cover in three steps. Bali agreed; Vamana grew to cosmic size, covered earth and sky in two steps, and Bali offered his own head for the third. Pleased by his generosity, Vishnu gave him a place in the lower world, Sutala. In Kerala the story adds that Bali was allowed to visit his people once a year, and Onam is that visit.

The festival is old. The Tamil Sangam poem Maduraikkanchi describes an Onam festival held in Madurai in honour of Vishnu, and the Thrikkakara temple near Kochi, dedicated to Vamana, is traditionally regarded as a centre of the festival. A well-known Malayalam folk song begins by remembering the days when Maveli, as Mahabali is fondly called, ruled and all people were equal, and it captures what Onam means to many: a memory of a fair and happy age.

Each of the ten days has its name after the nakshatra of the day, from Atham through Chithira, Chodhi, Vishakham, Anizham, Thriketta, Moolam, Pooradam and Uthradam to Thiruvonam. The pookalam, a carpet of flowers laid at the doorstep, grows larger each day. Uthradam, the day before Thiruvonam, is the day of preparation, and Thiruvonam itself brings new clothes, called onakkodi, and the Onasadya, a vegetarian feast served on a banana leaf.