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FESTIVALS ||||| ONAM<br />
payasam for dessert. Servings are<br />
replenished through the meal, leaving<br />
one well satiated. Once the meal is over,<br />
banana leaves are folded; folding the leaf<br />
away from oneself indicates one has<br />
enjoyed the meal and is paying a<br />
compliment to the chef.<br />
SNAKE BOAT RACES<br />
Kerala’s idyllic backwaters take centrestage<br />
during the legendary snake boat<br />
pageants that are deeply rooted in<br />
ancient beliefs, and enact historical<br />
events while inculcating athleticism and<br />
team spirit. Billed as the largest team<br />
sport in the world, snake boat races, have<br />
spectacular boats manned by teams of<br />
helmsmen, oarsmen and singers.<br />
Snake boat races held during Onam<br />
exude a verve all their own, and include<br />
the Payippad Boat Race at Payippad,<br />
Alappuzha; the Kumarakom Boat Race<br />
at Kumarakom; and the ritual Aranmula<br />
Boat Race at Aranmula. For a<br />
comprehensive list of snake boat races,<br />
please visit https://www.keralatourism.<br />
org/festivalcalendar.php.<br />
Top: Women and girls<br />
enjoy celebrating<br />
Onam together<br />
Middle: The Onam<br />
festive lunch called<br />
sadya is a traditional<br />
Kerala vegetarian<br />
meal with up to two<br />
dozen dishes served<br />
as a single course on<br />
a banana leaf<br />
Below: Pookalams or<br />
colourful and<br />
decorative floral floor<br />
decorations, made in<br />
front of homes,<br />
create a festive<br />
welcoming ambience<br />
TIGERS AT PLAY<br />
During Onam, one may be forgiven for<br />
thinking that big cats have laid siege to<br />
the streets. On the last day of the festival,<br />
men with lifelike faces of tigers, lions<br />
and leopards painted on their ample<br />
bellies dance through the streets of<br />
Thrissur and onto Swaraj Ground,<br />
marking puli kali or ‘play of tigers’<br />
festivities. Not only the generous<br />
abdomens of these men, but also their<br />
entire bodies are painted with animal<br />
patterns; a process that takes several<br />
hours. The look is completed with masks<br />
on the men’s faces and belts made of bells<br />
around their waists as they perform the<br />
“tiger dance” to the beat of drums.<br />
The men stride like tigers and enact<br />
scenes of tigers pouncing on their prey<br />
or being hunted.<br />
112 ||||| SEPTEMBER <strong>2016</strong>
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