Flowers and the Onam Celebration (August 20 - 30, 2023)


Onam is a 10 day Hindu harvest and cultural celebration and is one of the major festivals in Kerala, India. Everyone makes a big deal around Onam. 

Sunday, August 20

On the first day of Onam, it is the day of the elephant or Ganesh.  People make an offering to the elephant for the future, that all will go well.  It is probably like wishing for the new year.

These flowers are in our local village.  They are arranged late at night or early in the morning for the next day. The flower arrangement is called a Pookalam. Shaji says it is done by a group of young men.


Monday, August 21

Our local flowers were set up by 1:00 am.  We saw this as we took John to the airport.  I took a picture later on the way to the gym and work.

The design is a lotus flower with the symbol of Om.  It is a mantra used in yoga for you to be centered.


 Tuesday,  August 22

The flowers form a conch.  This is the royal symbol for the Travancore Kingdom.





Wednesday, August 23

Day 4 of Onam

The flowers tend to get a little bigger every day.  The colors are really just flower petals but if you look closely, the middle has full flowers, not just petals, that give it more depth and raises the center.


Thursday, August 24

Day 5 of Onam

There are flower petals all around but the center has the flower heads and not just the petals.



Friday, August 25, 2023

Day 6 of Onam



Saturday, August 26, 2023

Day 7 of Onam

Onam is also about the harvest.  

My neighbor, Tutsi, makes olive oil for Onam.  She cut many coconuts, dried them out and then sent them to the press to be pressed into oil.  She gave me some of her fresh olive oil that I used to cook with for the last week I was there.


GenPro's Pookalum at the TechnoPark.

I helped with the purple flowers the night before.  They stayed until 2 am to complete it and we left at 10 pm.

The staff pulled the petals off of flowers for hours the night before.


We missed a few days of our local flowers because we moved out of our house and went to a resort for our final days in India.  We didn't leave the resort but the flowers on Onam day were incredible!

Tuesday, August 29

Niraamaya Resort Pookalum



Niraamaya Resort created another pookalum as an activity that guests could participate in.  This was done in front of the guests that morning as part of the Onam celebration.


Tuesday, Aug. 29

Onam flowers along the road near the resort.


Tuesday, August 29

Onam flowers along the road from the resort to a hotel near the airport

Shaji slowed down so we could take pictures of all of the different pookalums.  


Lots of people were stopping to see this elaborate pookalum.  They even asked us for a contribution.  We had NO cash because Marshall told me to put all of our money in the tip box at the resort.



 



Shaji gave us a gift for Onam on Tuesday, the day we were flying out.  This would be an elephant head dress.  We laid it in the top of one of our suitcases and hoped it would survive.  It did!

John wanted to hang it in his apartment so it is with him at Wake Forest for the 2023-2024 school year!

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