Today was Onam.
It is a festival celebrated in Kerala, the southernmost state of India.
We call it God’s Own Country. Simple.
Onam is a cultural festival. All Keralites celebrate whatever their religion maybe. Originally it started as a festival in association with harvesting but later on the agricultural importance got sidelined to prosperity and auspiciousness. I do not want to go into the mythological stories behind the festival because it will only help in stretching the post further.
A grand vegetarian feast with traditional dishes is the integral part of the celebration. I decided to cook with a considerable amount of help from S in her kitchen. J had joined us in the morning to help us with the chopping and slowly invited guests started dropping in. A.B and S.T, V.R, S.S, K.K and H.M were the guests. We got a little delayed in serving dinner because of some calculation mistakes but we were able to serve 9 dishes along with different types of pickles and Kheer. Everybody ate and drank and the day couldn’t have gotten any merrier.
My little sadness for not being able to spend Onam with my family is gone now. After all friends are your family when you are away from home and this was truly a family. I loved the experience of sharing food and happy moments and hope for more.
Thank you all for making the day special.
Happy Onam.
Related articles
- Memories of Onam ..
(smileinstyle.wordpress.com) - Happy Onam (hinterlandvillagebug.com)
- Onam The Festival Of Kerala (raxacollective.wordpress.com)
- Another Onam – MB Manoj on Dalits, Onam and Malayali identity (kafila.org)
- The Ten Days of Onam (alakananda.wordpress.com)
- Onam Festival in Kerala (mahindrahomestays.com)
- Onam: Old tale, new format (fwdlife.in)
Pingback: Festive Mood « The Girl With The Scorpio Tattoo
Pingback: Saying it with Flowers on Onam | Pins N Ashes
And did you serve your meal on a stitched banana leaf? I remember stopping somewhere and taking a picture of our plate – a stitched banana leaf, Another time I was kneeling, watching a woman make a basket when I heard a load noise and a small cow (calf?)came running up to the home where it was served dinner on a banana leaf!
Not a stitched one, Carla. We used normal banana leaf. I don’t know if banana leaf can be stitched. Do you mean coconut leaves, by any chance? It can be stitched together to make baskets and other things.
I think it was a banana leaf stitched with a “thread” or pulled apart piece of the leaf. Just the plate we ate off.of. I have a picture somewhere…. Now i don’t know because the plate was round – that would be a coconut leaf probably.
We traditionally use leaf-plates called ‘pattal’ in at least some parts of northern India. It uses banyan leaves, I think, and its actually pinned together using tiny sticks (sort of like toothpicks, I guess) rather than ‘stitched’. We also have bowls made in similar fashion. I especially remember eating a lot of chaat in those bowls!
Happy Onam Manu! hope still you had all the best wishes from your family for the same!
Thank you Soumya. I was in constant touch with Mom on phone for guidance through cooking.
I imagine that she had sent her best wishes too if not annoyed… 
Pingback: This and That… – Basically, Thoughts « Thinkingg Out Loud
Oh that sounds wonderful! I will read more into Onam, I am interested!
It was a wonderful day. Thank you Moon.
I’m happy that you are interested… It’s a great festival time in Kerala. If you ecer feel like celebrating it with us, most welcome.