Artsy Craftsy Mom

Top Indian hobby, art and craft blog for kids

  • Facebook
  • Google+
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Home
  • Start Here
    • About ArtsyCraftsyMom
    • Fostering Creativity At Home – Starter Guide for Parents
    • My Favorite Art & Craft Supplies
    • Search by Age, Date or Category
    • Subscribe
    • Hire Us
    • Join our Team
    • #ARTSYCRAFTSYBREAK
  • Art ideas
    • Exploring The Great Artists
    • Folk Art
    • Printmaking Ideas
  • Craft Ideas
    • Holiday Crafts
    • Printable Crafts
    • Educational Crafts
    • Paper Crafts
    • Clay Crafts
    • Pipe Cleaner Crafts
    • Button Crafts
    • Stick Crafts
  • Exotic India
    • India Republic & Independence day
    • Indian Hindu Mythology
    • Indian Art / Craft suppliers
    • Indian Folk art
    • Festivals of India
    • Indian Books
    • Indian Recipes
    • Our Travel Tales
  • Lifestyle
    • Home Decor
    • Party Ideas
    • Books we love
    • Recipe corner
    • Parenting
  • Shop
    • Artsy Blog Planner
    • A to Z Alphabet Animal Craft Ebook
    • Learn with Play – Our Craft book
    • Printable Packs
    • e-Books on Indian Mythology
You are here: Home >> Exotic India >> Festivals of India >> Celebrating Onam the Harvest festival of Kerala, India

Celebrating Onam the Harvest festival of Kerala, India

Veena Regit | August 29, 2015 | 2 Comments

Sharing is caring!

559shares
  • Share
  • Tweet
  • Reddit
  • Email

A very Happy Onam to all the fabulous readers of Artsy Craftsy Mom! We celebrate Onam every year on the 1st day of Chingam Masam, the first month of the Malayalam calendar which is a solar calendar. If you are intrigued about this harvest festival – the why, the how and all the celebrations, well read on!

Contents hide
Celebrating Onam the Harvest festival of Kerala, India
The Legend of Onam
Onam for kids
Athapookalam (Flower Rangoli)
Decorating Elephants
Onam Sadhya (Onam Feast)!
Boat Racing

Celebrating Onam the Harvest festival of Kerala, India

Celebrating Onam Harvest Festival of Kerala1

Why we celebrate Onam, the harvest festival, well read on!

The Legend of Onam

There was once a Demon King Mahabali, in whose rule there was peace, prosperity, and happiness. Now Demons are supposed to be bad and do evil things, but not Mahabali!

Mahabali was a devout follower of Lord Vishnu and under the influence of his Grandfather, Prahlada, who himself was a good demon! Being born in the royal family, Mahabali was destined to be a King one day! And he was a very good ruler too. But the Devas(Gods) were jealous of the growing prosperity of the land and the popularity of Mahabali.

MAHABALI-ONAM

Mahabali was not only a great ruler but was also a great conqueror and conquered all the 3 worlds. Gods who were humiliated by their defeat to Mahabali, decided to seek help from Lord Vishnu.  Lord Vishnu then disguised himself as a small Brahmin boy (Vamana), went to Mahabali who had promised everyone that he would give them whatever they asked of him as a celebration of his win.  Vamana then asked the King to grant him land that could be measured by 3 of his footsteps. King’s advisors, who knew there was some trickery here advised him against making any promises! But the King, who realized who was Vamana, agreed to give him whatever he asked for. Then Vamana grew and grew. The first step, he took all of the lands on earth, the second step he took all of the sky that belonged to the gods and there was now nowhere else to keep his 3rd leg. Here the great King asked Vamana to put his 3rd step on him! So Vamana placed a foot on Mahbali’s head thus pushing him under the earth in to underworld where all the demons reside!

But Lord Vishnu was impressed with Mahabali and gave him permission to rule the Underworld and also granted him one wish! Mahabali who loved his Praja (people) very much, asked him permission to visit them once a year! Lord Vishnu granted him his wish and on Onam day, Mahabali comes from the underworld to see if his Praja is happy.  This is the legend of Onam and I suppose the only Demon King who is celebrated for goodness and prosperity!

Onam for kids

In Kerala, Onam is celebrated over 9 days, ending with Thiruvonam! Kids have much to rejoice and celebrate as they are gifted with new clothes, wonderful food served on Banana leaves and loads of yummy sweets! People who have migrated away from their home-land miss the spirit and thrill of Onam but you could still do a lot in the comfort of your home!

Here are some of the activities you could do at home with your kids!

Athapookalam (Flower Rangoli)

KOLAM-ONAM

 

 

Traditionally in Kerala, we put a Rangoli with flowers & flower petals in front of our homes and in corridors. We start with a single ring on the first day of Onam, then add the 2nd ring on the 2nd day and so on! On the 9th day, it is a huge Rangoli, with the colors of nature weaved beautifully in wonderful designs!

Plucking petals from the flower bud is a great fine motor activity for tots and mine enjoyed it immensely. We put our AthaPoo on  a round plate because our 19 month old was fascinated with the petals and kept picking the flowers off.

atha-poo4

To avoid my 5 year old getting frustrated, I gave both of them petals and a paper plate and let them got at it in their own unique ways! Here are the gorgeous results!

pookolam design

Image credit – Swati Mittal

Decorating Elephants

elephants

For centuries, our deity is carried on the mighty Elelphants for processions. The prowess and beauty of the Elephant is celebrated and revered in Kerala. The elephants are decorated with gold plated Forehead ornament called Nettipatom . We love elephants ( who doesn’t?) and decided to decorate our very own Elephant Wall Hangings!

elephant6

Gather your materials – Cardstock paper, Colors, decorative stickers, Glue outliner in various colors, washi tape. You could use anything.

I drew an elephant and cutout 4 from 2 sheets of card stock.

We mixed black and white to get a grey color. Aarya wanted his elephants to be grey

After the colors were dry,  we did decorations, as per whatever Aarya wanted. For older kids, you could color the middle with a different color and then decorate! You could also add pom-poms (small ones) for the border, the possibilities are endless! Once your Elephants are ready, attach them to a rope with cello-tape and hang them 🙂

Onam Sadhya (Onam Feast)!

SADYA-ONAM

We cook a Sadhya for Onam, which has more than 23 items all vegetarian with 2 Kheers (Payasams). For this activity I chose a very simple Kheer to make with Aarya, Semiyaa Payasam.

Onam Special Payasam 

Ingredients:

  • Semiyaa ( Rice Seviya pre roasted)
  • Milk – 1 ltr
  • Sugar 6 tbsp
  • Condensed Milk (optional)
  • Ghee
  • Raisins/Kaju (dry fruits)

 

Process

  • In a pan pour 1 tablespoon, Aarya poured 1 cup Semiya and warmed it up. Roasting it like this gives a nice Ghee taste.
  • In a thick bottomed vessel,  boil the milk, once the milk comes to a boil, add the roasted Semiya with the ghee.
  • Add sugar and the let the Semiyaa cook.
  • Once cooked, add 1 tbsp of condensed milk.
  • Moms will roast the dry fruits and add it to the Kheer and serve it to them!

This is the most simple cooking activity any kid (supervised by parents) can do!

Boat Racing

boat-race

 

One of the best things about Onam is all the fun celebrations that are hosted. And the best is boat racing. If you are in Kerala, it is almost the worst thing to miss the boat race at Onam time! It is AMAZZING!

This infographic  from dgreetings.com sums it up pretty well ..

Onam is celebration of a Demon King who was just, and considered equal. Let us also in our little ways be just and stop judging other people. Lets share our abundances. And be happy with our lives.

From our Family to Yours, a very Happy and Blessed Onam to you! May prosperity, happiness, abundance  and humility be your friends.

Filed Under: Exotic India, Festivals of India, Latest Posts Tagged With: #Festivals, ideas to celebrateOnam with kids, What is Onam, Why is Onam celebrated

You might also enjoy these crafts:

  • 20 Heartwarming Hanukkah Crafts for Kids20 Heartwarming Hanukkah Crafts for Kids
  • 18 Creative Activities to do on Krishna Janmashtami with Kids18 Creative Activities to do on Krishna Janmashtami with Kids
  • 15 Amazingly Fun Holi Crafts and Activities for Kids15 Amazingly Fun Holi Crafts and Activities for Kids
  • 15 Best ideas to make Rakhi at home for Rakshabandhan15 Best ideas to make Rakhi at home for Rakshabandhan
  • 12 Ramadan Crafts and Activities for Kids12 Ramadan Crafts and Activities for Kids
  • 20 Magnificent Mardi Gras Crafts for Kids20 Magnificent Mardi Gras Crafts for Kids
« How to Choose the BEST Books for your child
Teddy Bear Day – five must read books! »

Comments

  1. Anjana Jins says

    August 29, 2015 at 7:41 pm

    Wonderful post Ammu di ?

    Reply
  2. Sweta says

    September 9, 2015 at 4:37 pm

    Lovel post Veena

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

 About ArtsyCraftsyMom
 ArtsyCraftsyMom on Instagram
 Quick access
  • New? Start Here
  • Advertise
  • Join our Team
  • Subscribe
  • Shop
  • Google Privacy Policy & Declaration
 ArtsyCraftsyMom on pinterest

© Copyright 2020 · ArtsyCraftsyMom · All Rights Reserved · About ·