Kerala Special
Onam Week Celebrations 2015 - Programmes
Posted Date: 31 Aug 2015 |Updated: 31-Aug-2015 |Category: Festivals |Author: Balakrishnan |Member Level: Diamond |Points: 40 (Rs40) |
Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy had inaugurated the State-level Onam festival at Nishagandhi Auditorium here on August 25, 2015. On this occasion, the state government had honoured renowned artistes from the state. The week-long celebrations would bring the streets of the state capital alive with cultural extravaganza, which includes music, dance, painting and marital art programmes. In this article, we would give you a brief view of various programmes held.
Onam Week Celebrations
Every year, the state government organizes festivities marking the Onam festival, which is the state's harvest festival. There is also a legend associated with this harvest festival. It is widely believed that the Demon King Mahabali visits each household in the state to see whether his subjects are living happily or not. Due to this reason, all Keralites make it a point to show off in their own humble ways that they are well off. It is said that Malayalies normally last remaining penny to be happy before their beloved King Mahabali who wanted to see his subjects happy. Thinking on these lines, even the state government wanted to see some festivities happening during this festival. To this effect, the government conducts week-long celebrations in the state capital wherein a total of 5000 or more performing artistes showcase their soft skills before the audience. The people of the capital city can visit various venues dotted across the Trivandrum city to enjoy the cultural programmes.
Tourism Week Celebrations 2015
The most popular venues at which the cultural fete has been organized this year are Nishagandhi Auditorium, Poojappura Ground, Central Stadium, Vyloppilly Samskrithi Bhavan, Shankhumukham Beach and Museum Hall. The government has earmarked a fund of Rs. 3 crores for this extravaganza. The week-long celebration was kick-started at the main venue Nishagandhi Auditorium with the music performance by a team led by Sudeep and South Indian nightingale K.S. Chitra. The opening event was also marked by the dance performance of reputed danseuse Rajesree Warrier. The week-long celebration is organized by Kerala Tourism Department to showcase the culture of the God's Own Country. The week-long celebrations would be wound up with the grand procession showing various aspects of Kerala, both cultural and daily life-based. As part of the festival, a stretch between Kowdiar and East Fort has been illuminated with lights.
As part of the festival, various venues hosted different cultural programmes. People from the state capital visited these venues in large numbers dressed up in colourful attires to enjoy them. The venues and programmes hosted by them are listed below.
Central Stadium: This venue hosted musical mega shows by reputed artistes like G. Venugopal, Rajalakshmi, Anil Bajpai and Jassie Gift. People visiting this venue also could see a magic show by Gopinath Muthukkad and a dance performance by Kiran Master and Green Shadows.
VJT Hall: This venue hosted the poetry sessions by luminaries from the field of Malayalam literature on all four days in the morning sessions. In the evening, the professional drama troupes entertained the audience who happened to drop in.
Engineers' Hall: The plays were staged at this venue to amuse the people who love it.
Sanghumukham Beach: This venue became colourful by the presence of lights and temporary shelters doing the brisk business. In the evenings, the beach came to life with programmes by women and children.
Poojappura Madianam: This venue treated the people with the best music from the bygone era. Many people from the older generations rendered the popular tunes to entertain the audience.
Bharath Bhavan: It also hosted various musical shows to treat the audience on all the days during the celebration week.
Suryakanthi Ground: This venue was occupied by the Kudumbasree and Government units offering various artefacts and items for sales. These units erected the temporary stalls for exhibition and sales of these items. On one side of this ground, there was a group of stalls offering traditional Kerala cuisines to the visitors as a part of the food festival.
Kanakakunnu Ground: On the premises of Kanakakunnu Palace, a temporary amusement park for children was set up and children had a ball of time enjoying the facilities there.
Every year, the official tourism week celebrations would be organized by the Kerala Government. The main reason for this week-long celebration is to attract the tourists from across the country and abroad to the Kerala State and showcase its culture and natural resources. The government had earmarked about Rs. 3 crores for this purpose. As part of the celebrations, many professional artistes from various cultural genres were allowed to participate. A total of about 29 venues was set up to showcase the culture of Kerala. The itinerary of various events in these venues was rolled out in advance to let people know about them. The hallmark of the inaugural event was the music program by Sudeep and K.S. Chitra. The troupe accompanying them gave a befitting backup for their songs. The event officially came to a close with the grand pageantry of all the cultures of the state on August 31, 2015. The festival revellers had a ball of a time enjoying various cultural fetes that were in store for them. The children were pampered to the extent possible by the child shows and amusement park as part of this official tourism week celebrations this year (2015).
Story of Onathappan and Onam
Onathappan is also known as Thrikkakarappan. It is a pyramid like structure made from mud. Generally this pyramid like structure symbolizes Lord Vishnu's avatar Vamana. For some people, pyramid structure also symbolizes the king Mahabali.
Onam and Onapookkalam
Onapookkalam can be defined as form of flower carpet arranged on the floor during onam season. This form of arrangement has been done in Kerala for decades before Thiruvonam day. People in Kerala used to celebrate Onam festival in order to memorize the glorious story of King Mahabali.
Onam and Kummattikali
Kerala, our God's own country is blessed with many traditional dance and art forms. We are going to see here the details of Onam and Kummattikali. It is one among the traditional art forms conducted in Kerala districts like Palakkad and Thrissur. It is usually performed during Onam season in Kerala.
Onam and Kaikottikali
Onam is one among the most auspicious festivals celebrated in Kerala. We are going to see here the details of Onam and Kaikottikali. Kaikottikali is also known as Thiruvathirakkali in south Kerala. It is a kind of folk dance performed by maidens of Kerala during Onam season and Thiruvathira. Both young women and old aged women alike participate in this dance performance.
Thumbithullal and Onam
Thumbithullal is one among the folk dances of Kerala commonly performed during Onam and Thiruvathira. It is generally performed by Keralite girls during the above specified festivals. How is this folk dance performed? This is a common question heard from people of new generation. In this folk dance forms, a girl is generally selected as Thumbi.
More articles: Onam 2015