About Onam
Onam is Kerala's harvest festival and its official state festival, kept over ten days in the Malayalam month of Chingam. The main day, Thiruvonam, falls on Sunday, 12 September 2027 in 2027. Malayali families lay a flower carpet at the door, eat a vegetarian feast off a plantain leaf, and keep the story of King Mahabali returning once a year to see how his people are doing.
The story Malayalis tell is not about a god winning. Mahabali was an asura king whose rule over Kerala was so fair that the gods grew uneasy. Vishnu came to him as Vamana, a short brahmin boy, and asked for three paces of land. Mahabali agreed, even after his own teacher warned him. Vamana covered earth and sky in two strides, and Mahabali offered his head for the third. What he asked in return was leave to come back once a year and look at his people. Onam is that visit.
So the festival is arranged around a guest. The house is cleaned because Maveli is coming, and nobody is supposed to look poor or unhappy while he is here. That is the sharp edge of the old proverb Kaanam vittum Onam unnanam: you must eat the Onam meal even if you sell your land for it.
Onam was declared Kerala's state festival in 1961 under Chief Minister Pattom Thanu Pillai, and that matters for how you wish people. It now works as a civic festival as much as a religious one. Christian and Muslim colleagues join office sadyas and pookalam contests, though some Muslim scholars have advised against ritual participation.
Maveli nadu vaneedum kalam, manusharellarum onnu pole. When Maveli ruled the land, all people were as one.
The ten days, Atham to Thiruvonam
- Day 1 · AthamThe flag and the first flowers
The festival flag goes up at the Thrikkakara Vamanamoorthy temple near Kochi, and Thripunithura holds the Athachamayam procession. The first pookalam is small and, by custom, yellow only.
- Days 2–7 · Chithira to MoolamCleaning, buying, rowing
Houses are washed, Onakkodi clothes are bought elders first, crews practise for the boat races, and relatives start arriving from Bengaluru and the Gulf.
- Day 8 · PooradamOnathappan is installed
Small clay pyramids standing for Mahabali and Vamana are set at the centre of the pookalam, which is now at its largest.
- Day 9 · UthradamFirst Onam
The last market day, and the day subsidised ration kits are handed out. Maveli is said to arrive by evening.
- Day 10 · ThiruvonamThe main day
An early bath, new clothes, offerings before Onathappan, and the sadya at midday.
Two more days follow for many families. On Avittam, the third Onam, the clay Onathappan is lifted out of the pookalam and immersed in a river or the sea, and the flowers are swept away. Chathayam, the fourth Onam, is when Thrissur fills up for Pulikali. In the Onattukara belt around Oachira, a separate festival called Irupathiyettam Onam falls exactly 28 days later, when villages drag huge straw-and-cloth bull effigies to the Oachira Parabrahma temple to thank the cattle.
Why does the Onam pookalam grow each day?
The Onam pookalam, the flower carpet, starts on Atham as one small circle and gains a ring a day, so by Thiruvonam a family that kept it up has a carpet several feet across. It is laid at the front doorstep, not indoors, because it is meant for someone arriving. Petals are pinched into pieces rather than laid whole, which is why a good pookalam looks like coloured sand.
Thrikkakara is the anchor point. The name is read as Thiru-kaal-kara, the place of the holy foot, and the temple is one of the few in India where Vishnu is worshipped as Vamana. Its Onam sadya feeds tens of thousands, open to anyone who sits down.
How do you eat an Onam sadya?
An Onam sadya is eaten off a banana leaf laid tip to the left, in a set order: rice with parippu and ghee, then sambar, then rasam, then the sour curd dishes, and payasam at the end, with the leaf folded towards you when you finish.
- The leaf goes tip to the leftThe narrow end points left. Turning it the other way is the first thing an older relative will correct.
- Top half, left to rightBanana chips and sharkara varatti at the far left, then pickles, inji puli and pachadi, then thoran, avial, olan and kaalan.
- Rice with parippu and gheeKerala matta rice on the lower half, the first serving eaten with dal and a spoon of ghee over it.
- Sambar, then rasamA second mound of rice with sambar, a third with rasam, each course thinner than the last.
- Pulissery and moruThe sour curd preparations close the savoury run.
- Payasam at the endAda pradhaman, palada or parippu payasam, eaten from the leaf with a ripe plantain.
- Fold the leaf towards youFolding it inwards says the meal was good. Folding it away is the fold used at a death feast, so get this one right.
A full sadya runs past two dozen items, all vegetarian, cooked without onion and garlic in many homes. Coconut carries almost all of it: grated in the thoran, ground in the avial, thin milk in the olan, thick milk in the payasam.
How is Onam celebrated in public?
Onam's public half is vallamkali, the boat races, and Pulikali in Thrissur. Vallamkali is the noisy part. The Nehru Trophy Boat Race at Punnamada Lake, Alappuzha, grew out of Jawaharlal Nehru's visit in December 1952, when local crews rowed him across the backwaters and he sent back a silver trophy; the chundan vallams now race about 1.4 kilometres inside the Champions Boat League. Aranmula's Uthrattadi Vallamkali on the Pampa is older and more religious, rowed with palliyodams on the Uthrattathi star a few days after Thiruvonam, and it counts as a temple offering rather than a contest. Pulikali takes over Swaraj Round in Thrissur on the fourth Onam, performers painted yellow, red and black as tigers and hunters, dancing to the pulimelam. Kerala Tourism traces the Thrissur event to 1886.
Onam is a fiscal event too. The state announces an Onam bonus for government and aided-sector staff, ₹4,500 in 2026, and an Onam advance of up to ₹20,000 recovered over five monthly instalments. Supplyco runs Onam markets and hands out subsidised ration kits that finish on Uthradam.
Onam is not the Malayali new year, whatever the cards say. Kerala's calendar year begins on Chingam 1 in mid-August, a quiet day with no feast, and the older Kerala new year, Vishu, is in April. Onam is fixed instead by the Thiruvonam star falling inside the solar month of Chingam, which is why it slides across weeks while Pongal stays put and Ugadi moves differently again. Kerala's statehood day is Kerala Piravi, 1 November.
What to write
Onashamsakal, Amme and Achcha. I can already picture the leaf. Keep a little ada pradhaman for me and send a photo of the pookalam before it wilts.
Onashamsakal! Hope the sadya runs to twenty-six items and somebody else does the washing up this year.
Happy Onam to you and your family. Enjoy the sadya, and please ignore anything from me until Thiruvonam is over.
Onashamsakal. No fresh plantain leaf where you are, I know. Order the sadya, call home at lunch, and let the pookalam be a paper one.
Onam ashamsakal, Ammachi. You always said the payasam tells you who cooked it. I am attempting palada this year, so lower your expectations.
Thinking of your family this Onam. No wishes, just letting you know we remember, and that we are around if the house feels quiet.
Wishing you a very happy Onam. We have made far too much avial, so please send someone across around one o'clock.
Do
- Say Onashamsakal if you can. It is the word Malayalis actually use, and it travels well in a text.
- Wish on Thiruvonam morning. Uthradam evening is fine too, but the day after is too late.
- If you are invited to a sadya, go hungry, eat with your right hand, and pace yourself for the payasam.
Avoid
- Don't send a cheerful greeting to a family that has had a death this year. Many Malayali households skip Onam entirely for the first year.
- Don't call Onam the Malayali new year. Chingam 1 in August and Vishu in April are the new-year days.
- Don't treat it as only a Hindu festival or only a secular one. In Kerala it is both, and families draw that line in different places.
- Onashamsakal
- Onam greetings, the standard Malayalam wish
- Thiruvonam
- The star, and the main day of the festival
- Pookalam
- The flower carpet at the doorstep, added to on each of the ten days
- Onathappan
- The clay pyramid set in the pookalam from Pooradam, immersed on Avittam
- Sadya
- The vegetarian feast served on a plantain leaf
- Onakkodi
- New clothes bought and given for Onam
- Maveli
- The Malayalam name for King Mahabali
How to wish someone on Onam
An Onam wish works best when it points at the homecoming rather than at luck or money. Malayalis say Onashamsakal. Name the thing your reader is actually doing: the pookalam their daughter is laying, the sadya they are cooking for twenty, the flight home they could not get this year. For friends abroad, acknowledge the distance. For a grieving family, send a quiet line and skip the exclamation mark; many households keep a first Onam without celebration.
Write a few lines in your own words, pick a design and share it as one link on WhatsApp, Instagram or anywhere else. They open an animated card made just for them, with no app and no sign-up.
Language tip: English, Hindi + regional language.
When is Onam in 2026 and 2027?
Onam is set by the Hindu solar calendar, so it falls on a different date each year. In 2027 it falls 18 days later than in 2026.
- 2026
- 2027
Frequently asked questions
When is Onam in 2027?
Onam 2027 falls on Sunday, 12 September 2027.
What is the difference between Onam and Vishu?
Onam is Kerala's ten-day harvest festival in the month of Chingam, built around the return of King Mahabali and a feast on a plantain leaf. Vishu is the Kerala solar new year in mid-April, a quieter one-morning ritual in which the family's first sight of the year is an arrangement of gold, grain and konna flowers. Both are Malayali, but they are not versions of each other.
Why does the date of Onam change every year?
Onam is fixed by the Thiruvonam star rather than by a calendar date. The festival falls on the day the Thiruvonam nakshatra occurs during the solar month of Chingam, which places it anywhere from mid-August to mid-September in the Gregorian calendar. In 2027 Thiruvonam is on Sunday, 12 September 2027.
How do you wish someone in Malayalam on Onam?
Say "Onashamsakal", which means Onam greetings. A fuller version used in cards and speeches is "Ellavarkkum ente hridayam niranja Onashamsakal", heartfelt Onam wishes to everyone. Plain "Happy Onam" is perfectly normal in offices and group chats.
Is Onam a Hindu festival?
Its story comes from Hindu tradition, and the rituals at home and at temples such as Thrikkakara are Hindu ones. In practice Onam has been Kerala's official state festival since 1961 and is kept as a shared cultural occasion, with Christian and Muslim families joining sadyas, pookalam contests and office celebrations, though some Muslim scholars advise against taking part in the ritual portions.
What are the ten days of Onam called?
In order they are Atham, Chithira, Chodhi, Vishakam, Anizham, Thriketa, Moolam, Pooradam, Uthradam and Thiruvonam. Atham opens the festival and the first pookalam, Uthradam is called First Onam and is the last big market day, and Thiruvonam is the main day of the feast.
What is served at an Onam sadya?
A sadya is a vegetarian meal on a plantain leaf that usually runs past two dozen items, among them banana chips, sharkara varatti, inji puli, pickles, thoran, avial, olan, kaalan, sambar, rasam and pulissery, served over Kerala matta rice and finished with payasam. Most of it is built on coconut in some form, and many households cook it without onion or garlic.
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