Onam 2028: Date, Rituals & Significance

Shukla Trayodashi runs 31 Aug, 22:31 → 2 Sept, 00:35.

1. Pookalam. Lay the pookalam, the flower carpet, at the entrance; begun small on Atham, it grows each day to its fullest on Thiruvonam.
2. Thrikkakara Appan. On Thiruvonam morning, place the clay pyramid figures of Thrikkakara Appan (Vamana) on the pookalam or a wooden plank, painted with rice-flour paste.
3. Worship. Offer thumba flowers, rice-flour paste, a lit nilavilakku and naivedya of ada or poovada, welcoming Mahabali to his people.
4. Onakkodi. Wear the new clothes given for Onam, the onakkodi; elders give them to the family and to helpers.
5. Onam sadya. At midday serve the sadya on a banana leaf, placed in the traditional order, and eat together.

• Flowers for the pookalam (thumba, chethi, marigold, others)
• Clay figures of Thrikkakara Appan
• Rice flour for the paste (ada / maavu)
• Nilavilakku, oil and wicks
• Thumba flowers
• Ada or poovada for naivedya
• Banana leaves
• New clothes (onakkodi)

The ten days from Atham build the pookalam, the floral carpet at the threshold, a little larger each day; Thiruvonam brings the Onasadya, a feast of two dozen or more dishes served on a banana leaf, ending with payasam. Clay figures of Mahabali and Vamana (Onathappan) are set on the pookalam and worshipped.

The festival is also Vallam Kali — the snake-boat races of the Pamba and Punnamada backwaters — Pulikali tiger-dances, Thiruvathira and Kaikottikali group dances, Onakalikal games, and new clothes (Onakodi). It is Kerala's largest festival and is kept by Malayalis of every faith as a shared cultural event.

Mahabali, an asura king and grandson of Prahlada, ruled so justly that his realm knew no lie, no want and no fear — a golden age. The gods, uneasy at his greatness, sent Vishnu as the dwarf Vamana, who begged three paces of land and then grew to cover earth and sky in two; for the third, Bali offered his own head. Vishnu pressed him to Patala but granted that he might return to visit his people once a year — and Onam is that visit.

Source: Kerala temple records (Trikkakara) and Sangam-era references — the Thiruvonam festival

Onam is attested in Tamil Sangam-era references to a Thiruvonam festival at Madurai and in Kerala inscriptions and temple records from the ninth century (the Trikkakara temple, Vamana's shrine, as its historic centre); the Government of Kerala has kept it as the state festival since 1961.

• Kerala temple records (Trikkakara) and Sangam-era references — the Thiruvonam festival
• Wikipedia — Onam

1. The festival runs ten days from Atham, when the first ring of the pookalam is laid, to Thiruvonam, when King Mahabali is welcomed home.
2. On Thiruvonam families wear new clothes (onakkodi), place Thrikkakara Appan figures on the pookalam, and eat the sadya at midday.
3. Snake-boat races on the backwaters, the Pulikali tiger dance in Thrissur, and Onakalikal games fill the season.

• Kerala. The ten-day pookalam, the Thiruvonam Onasadya, Onathappan worship, Vallam Kali boat races, Pulikali and folk dances, and Onakodi clothes.
• Malayali diaspora. Onasadya and pookalam kept wherever Malayalis have settled, as a secular cultural festival.

• Onam sadya — Two dozen dishes on a banana leaf: avial, olan, kalan, sambar, pachadi, thoran and more.
• Payasam — Ada pradhaman and palada, served at the end of the sadya.
• Banana chips and sharkara varatti — The season's snacks.

Onam (Thiruvonam) falls on Friday, 1 September 2028. Kerala's harvest festival, on the day of the Thiruvonam star in the month of Chingam.

at sunrise

Onam centres on Thiruvonam — the day the Moon is in the Shravana nakshatra — in the Malayalam solar month of Chingam, which begins at Simha Sankranti. It falls in late August or September; the ten days run from the Atham nakshatra to Thiruvonam.

The date is set by the Hindu lunisolar calendar and shifts against the Gregorian year.