Onam 2027 ओणम

Why Onam is celebrated

Onam is the biggest festival of Kerala and the most loved by Malayalis everywhere. It falls in Chingam, the first month of the Malayalam calendar, when the heavy monsoon rains ease and the harvest is in. The festival is a time of plenty, new clothes and family reunions.

At its heart is the memory of King Mahabali, an asura ruler whom Malayalis remember with deep affection. Folk songs describe his reign as a golden age when all people were equal, no one lied or cheated, and no one went hungry. Devotees believe that Mahabali returns once a year at Onam to see his people, and every home prepares to welcome him with flowers, lamps and a feast.

Onam belongs to all of Kerala. Hindus, Christians and Muslims celebrate it together, and the Kerala government treats it as the state festival. For Malayalis living in other states and abroad, it is a link to home and to childhood.

The festival also has a quiet religious side. Thiruvonam falls on the same day as Vamana Jayanti in many years, and temples of Vishnu as Vamana, above all the one at Thrikkakara, hold special pujas. Yet most families think of Onam less as a ritual and more as a homecoming. Children return from hostels, workers return from the Gulf, and the house is cleaned and decorated for a guest who belongs to everyone.

History and story of Onam

The best known legend comes from the Puranas. Mahabali, grandson of the devotee Prahlada, grew so powerful through his virtue and generosity that the gods feared for their place. Vishnu took the form of Vamana, a small Brahmin boy, and came to Mahabali's yajna to ask for as much land as he could cover in three steps. The king agreed, despite the warning of his guru Shukracharya. Vamana then grew to a cosmic size, covered the earth and the heavens in two steps, and Mahabali offered his own head for the third. Pleased with his devotion, Vishnu sent him to the netherworld but allowed him to visit his people once a year.

The festival is old. The Tamil Sangam-era poem Maduraikanchi refers to an Onam festival in the city of Madurai linked to Vishnu, and the Vamana temple at Thrikkakara near Kochi, which local tradition calls the seat of Mahabali, has long been tied to the celebration. Over the centuries Onam grew from a temple festival into the harvest feast of the whole land. In modern times it has become a secular, statewide celebration, and the Kerala government runs a week of cultural programmes, often called Onam Week, around Thiruvonam.

How Onam is celebrated

Onam runs for ten days, from the Atham star to Thiruvonam. On Atham, families lay a small pookalam, a carpet of flowers, in the front yard. Each day they add a new ring of flowers, so the design grows larger and more colourful until Thiruvonam. Clay figures called Onathappan, or Thrikkakarappan, shaped like small pyramids, are placed in the courtyard to stand for Vamana and Mahabali. On Thiruvonam morning they are decorated with flowers and rice batter, and a lamp is lit before them.

Uthradom, the day before Thiruvonam, is known as first Onam. Markets are packed with people buying vegetables, banana chips and new clothes, called onakkodi, which elders gift to younger family members. Women often wear the cream kasavu saree with a golden border, and men wear the mundu.

The high point on Thiruvonam is the Onasadya, a vegetarian feast served on a banana leaf. A full sadya can have more than twenty items, including rice, parippu with ghee, sambar, avial, thoran, olan, kaalan, erissery, pachadi, pickles, pappadam and banana chips, followed by two or three kinds of payasam such as ada pradhaman and palada. Each dish has a fixed place on the leaf and is served in a set order.

Games and dances fill the days. Women perform Thiruvathirakali, a graceful circle dance, while young people play tug of war and other folk games, and swings are hung from tree branches.

Symbols, food and customs of Onam

The pookalam is the best known sign of Onam. It is a round carpet of loose petals laid on the floor of the front yard. Families use thumba, a small white flower linked to Mahabali, along with marigold, chethi, hibiscus and leaves. The design starts with one ring on Atham and grows a ring each day, so by Thiruvonam it can cover a large part of the courtyard.

The Onathappan figures of clay, the nilavilakku brass lamp and the swing hung from a tree are other familiar sights. Elders gift new clothes called onakkodi, and the cream kasavu saree and mundu with a gold border have become the dress of the season.

Food sits at the centre of the festival. The Onasadya is eaten sitting on the floor or at long tables, on a fresh banana leaf placed with its tip to the left. Rice, parippu, sambar, rasam, avial, thoran, olan, kaalan, kootu curry, inji puli, pickles and pappadam each have a set place on the leaf. The meal ends with payasam, often ada pradhaman made with jaggery and coconut milk, and palada made with milk. Banana chips and sharkara varatti, chips coated in jaggery, are snacks of the season. A Malayalam saying advises people to have the Onam feast even if they must sell their land for it.

Onam across India

Some celebrations belong to particular places. The festival opens with Athachamayam at Thripunithura near Kochi, a grand street procession with caparisoned elephants, folk art forms and floats. On the fourth Onam, two days after Thiruvonam, Thrissur hosts Pulikali, in which men painted as tigers and hunters dance through the streets to the beat of drums. The snake boat races on the Pampa river, including the Aranmula Uthrattathi Vallamkali, draw huge crowds, with rowers singing vanchipattu as they pull. In Thiruvananthapuram, the city is lit up and Onam Week closes with a cultural procession.

Outside Kerala, Malayali communities hold Onam gatherings and sadyas in Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Chennai and the Gulf countries. In North Indian cities, Malayali associations usually arrange a community sadya and pookalam contests on a weekend close to Thiruvonam.

In Dehradun and other towns of Uttarakhand, the Malayali community is small but close knit, and its samajams and church groups usually hold a pookalam and a shared sadya. Schools with Malayali teachers sometimes run a pookalam contest for students.

Offices, banks, markets and travel during Onam

Onam is a restricted (optional) holiday for central government employees outside Kerala, and in 2027 it falls on a Sunday. In Kerala it is the main state festival, so check the Kerala state holiday list for the exact days.

Onam is the state festival of Kerala, and the biggest closures happen there. The Kerala state list for 2027 is not part of our records yet, so check the state notification before planning around it.

Outside Kerala, Onam is an optional festival. In 2026 Thiruvonam fell on Wednesday, 26 August. The central government kept it in the restricted holiday list and in the optional pool from which state level committees choose holidays. The Delhi government listed it as a restricted holiday, and Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan, Survey of India, AIIMS Rishikesh, HNB Garhwal University and the Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology did the same. Offices stayed open, and staff who chose the day took it as leave.

In 2027 Thiruvonam falls on Sunday, 12 September. The central government has again placed it in the restricted holiday list and the optional pool, and AIIMS Rishikesh lists it as a restricted holiday. Since the day is a Sunday, most offices outside Kerala will not see any change. State government lists and the RBI bank holiday list for 2027 are not published yet.

Expect heavy bookings on trains, buses and flights to Kerala from Bengaluru, Chennai, Mumbai, Delhi and the Gulf in the week before Thiruvonam, and crowded markets on Uthradom.