EHTRAONAM UNDU Dear friends,
The title is a sarcastic question asking what the age of the person isindirectly. Three things are certain on onam day- There might be rain in theevening. New dresses would be worn byall. Excellent food would be there in all homes. My father used to get Onakazha from nearby farmers. So he wasspecial to invite them on Uthradam day and offer Onakkoti. Iyers, Brahmins settled in Kerala gradually accepted Onam. Ihave heard my father telling- We have two onams, Onam and AAvani avittam. Even in my memorable days Atthapookkalam wasdrawn in front of Tulasimatam. Thrikkakarayappan made of mud in the middle.Number of circles increased one by each day ending with 10th circleon Tiruvonam day. After 5th onam or so my Periappa family joined ustill avani avittam and Gayathrijapam. After reading more, I could understand why on aavani avittam day before entering home leg andfeet were cleaned and aarathi taken. On that day, legs being washed Kali wouldnot enter and so no anger in the family from male members. A very pleasant atmosphere. Normally it is not a custom among iyersto wash feet and enter. On onam day during my middle school days headmaster and laterhead mistress, both Christians were invited for feast. On those days Christianscelebrating Onam was less. They came in the evening and had snacks and coffeewith us. Rather than asking whether your son would come for aavaniavittam, the query was- For Onam and aavani avittam your son would come?. Replywas yes. That much importance was given to aavani avittam. My eldest brotheremployed in Ernakulam would come withoutfail for Onam and aavani avittam. He wasemployed in a hotel and hotel had holiday on those days. All employees would goto home. The new upaveetham showed an iyer performed aavani avittam.Something similar to Noimbu charatu identifying a lady as Brahmin. Now a day wecannot distinguish many iyer girls from the name. In the training centre hostel at Trivandrum, special Onam feastwould be there, before onam in a day. Those in quarters would get all sadyaitems if they tell earlier, and of course one had to go and collect.Normally one person would go and collect3-4 family items and supply. There had been lecturers from Tamilnadu, Andhraand Karnataka on their QUOTA and they enjoyed the feast very much. EspeciallyAndhra,Tamilnadu and Karnataka persons would be very happy seeing trainees fromtheir area coming for training. Hotels in Trivandrum used to supply payasam and prathaman inthe evenings three or four days before Onam. On those days supplying to home was not there. My daughter not able to come, has booked onam feast in Bangalore from a restaurant which might serve with all items including plantain leaftomorrow at 11.30 AM. In Kerala too many homes now get all feast items fromrestaurants. Wish all a happy onam Gopala Krishnan 20-8-21 -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Thatha_Patty" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/thatha_patty/1555710231.414670.1629444615829%40mail.yahoo.com.
