Onam Pookalam : Onam is a yearly harvest festival of Malayali people. It has its origin in the state of Kerala and it is celebrated with great enthusiasm and joy. It is celebrated in Chingam month (the first month according to Malayalam calendar) which is the month of August-September in Gregorian calendar. People believe that the spirit of King Mahabali who was the great-grandson of Brahmin visits Kerala during the time of Onam festival. Onam is not a one-day festival, It is celebrated for ten days where various rituals, customs and different types of celebrations are practiced.
Onapookalam or Pookalam is one of the main tradition followed by the people during the festival days. It is mainly the arrangement of flowers on the floor in a beautiful and appealing pattern. It is made up of two words; Poov which means flowers and Kalam which means color sketches on the ground. It is like rangoli which is popular in North India and is mostly made on the day of Diwali with bright colors but instead of colors, Pookalam is made from beautiful and exotic yellow flowers.
Making of Pookalam starts from the first day of the festival that is called Atham day. On this day, the size of Pookalam is relatively small but the size grows progressively each day till Onam. Pookalam tends to be a circular arrangement of various yellow colored flowers. On the occasion day, there are much Pookalam decoration competition all over the state where a large number of people participate and winners are awarded big prizes.
Pookalam designs:
This is the basic Pookalam design which is made from different varieties of marigold flowers. Here, the boundary of the Pookalam is prepared with green leaves.
Image Credit : Pinterest
It is a circular Pookalam with a beautiful flower made in the center. Here, white and red flowers are also used to enhance the beauty of Pookalam.
Image Credit : Pinterest
This Pookalam is made from eye-fetching flowers with bright colors.
Image Credit : Pinterest
This Pookalam depicts the rituals which are practiced during ten days of the occasion.
Image Credit : Pinterest
It is a unique Pookalam design made from the leaves and attractive white and red colored flowers.
These are only a few ideas to design a beautiful Pookalam. There are thousands of ways for arranging the flowers in an appealing manner. Onam is a festival that is mainly celebrated by the people from southern India but being Indians we should all celebrate the occasion merrily and cheerfully. HAPPY ONAM!
6 comments
Wowiee ?? such colourful article ?I loved the leaves one ❤️
Loved your article simran ???
Such pretty and elegant designs. Great ideas indeed. Loved this article ??
these are such pretty designs… loved the last one in particular .. 🙂
The ritual one was awesome.. All the designs are quite intricate..
Nice finds???
This article gave a clear insight of the onam festival..
Very well explained?
Desighns are just perfect?
soooo prettyyy