Wearing traditional clothes, preparing sumptuous feasts and laying colourful floral carpets in the courtyards, Keralites celebrated Onam, on August 29 with pomp and gaiety.
On the occasion of “Thiru Onam”, the most auspicious day of the 10-day-long festival, people visited temples in large numbers, cutting across villages and towns in the morning.
Children and youngsters decorated their houses with colourful “pookkalam” (floral carpets) in various designs and colours. In villages, people put up high swings, called ‘oonjal’ in local parlance, in the courtyards of their homes as part of festivities. While elders gifted “onakkodi” (new clothes) to other members of the family, women prepared “sadya”, the sumptuous feast comprising various traditional vegetarian dishes, pickles and delicious dessert ‘payasam’.
