For all the fun and frolic, Onam has long remained a festival tagged with its share of privacy – a trademark of the average Malayali. New-age social relations triggered by economic liberalisation have led to altering it into a broader cultural get-together for the past two decades.
This refreshing contemporary equation has extended the scope of Onam as an ideal occasion for tourist attraction in Kerala.
Peak tourist season
In any case, the festivity comes at a time when the tropical State turns greener after three months of monsoon rains. The sky clears and the sun returns, lending a bell-metal shine to the thick vegetation of the slender south Indian state.
Not surprising, thus, that travellers across the world, including rest of India, sense September as the best of times to visit Kerala.
The trend, which has been on the rise in past 15-plus years, has boosted the State’s prospect as a global cultural destination. For, Onam also triggers a flurry of ethnic exotica which cannot but be tempting to tourists.
Shopping spree
All this, when such tourism also ensures promotion of the economy. That is why one hears that the tiny State registered sales worth Rs 2,000 crore of fabric in 2012 with an estimated total of 5.5 lakh garment-selling outlets spread across its length and breadth.
Clothes, of course, have been a traditional form of Onam gift. Called Onappudava, handing over of dress material has been a custom in vogue since the feudal times and even before. Only that in today’s world, the stuff is shinier and more stylish.
Again, it is small wonder that sales of even white goods see an Onam-time rise; estimates peg it to no less than Rs 15,000 crores, a chunk of which are LCD television sets.
The sheen of the market apart, it is the cultural vibrancy of the State that typically woos the tourist to the State during the Onam season.
The Kerala Government’s Tourism Department notes that staging a whole range of art forms during the festival time has virtually become a tradition now.
“They add not just to the colour of Onam for the Keralites. For tourists, such cultural programmes showcase the eclectic heritage of our state,” notes G. Harikishore, Director of Kerala Tourism.
Cultural programmes
Thus, Kerala – from north to south – revels in variety programmes which, unlike in the past, have a mass participation. Art historians note that Onam used to be a relatively silent festival, as even community gatherings during the occasion were not as massive as they are today.
For instance, Kaikottikali is a sing-and-dance art where females would gather in a round under a tree and move circularly. An afternoon entertainment, it used to be confined to pockets of sleepy villages of the state. That was until Kerala Tourism began organising state-level programmes that would feature this art – also called Thiruvathirakali – as a stage programme in towns and cities.
Quite a few traditional activities of the State have started earning a new layer of glitter and fame, courtesy a week-long celebration that Kerala Tourism organises during Onam.
One among them that can be highlighted is the boat race on the sprawling Punnamada Lake in central Travancore. That happens during August in the run-up to the harvest festival, where magnificent snake-boats (besides smaller country crafts) would vie for honours at the prestigious Nehru Trophy Boat Race which has six decades of history.
Another pre-Onam event of traditional value is the Athachamayam of Tripunithura. A royal-era pageantry attached to the Kochi King and the tastes of his age once upon a time, Athachamayam today is a far more evolved and eclectic parade which gives the visitor a kaleidoscopic view of Kerala’s performing arts.
Accompanied by caparisoned elephants and decorated floats, it showcases arts like chendamelam, panchavadyam, Theyyam, Karakattam, Mayilattam, Pulikkali, Ammankudam and Kavadi.
Among them, Pulikkali can be seen in full glory and great detail if the tourist is in Thrissur on the fourth day of Onam. Dancing to the beats of ethnic drums and cymbals, the tiger-dance artistes continue to attract crowds to the central-Kerala town – the cultural capital of the State.
Traditional touches
Come Onam, and ditto is the case with several traditional art forms ranging from Villadichan Pattu down the state to Ottanthullal and Thira in the middle to Theyyam in North Malabar.
Kerala Tourism also ensures the staging of classical and contemporary art forms during Onam time, thus facilitating view of Kathakali, Koodiyattam, Mohiniyattam and Carnatic music to literary soirees, experimental theatre and popular music and dance.
What’s more, one-time household affairs like Pookkalam (flower carpet at the doorstep) and the visits of boys dressed up as Mahabali King across neighbourhood houses have now become items of competition at public cultural festivals.
Onam, clearly, is tempting for the tourist to Kerala as much as it is for the rooted Malayali.