Onam!!
(back-dated post #6)
We arrived in Kerala just in time for Onam. One of the biggest holidays on the Keralan calendar, Onam is a ten-day-long celebration of the annual return to earth of the beloved mythical ruler, Mahabali. Legend has it that Mahabali was a good, kind, and generous ruler who was beloved by his people. Somehow, he offended the gods and was banished from the earth. But because he was such a swell guy, he is allowed to return for ten days each year. To celebrate the return of Mahabali, students get off from school, fancy meals are eaten, new clothes are bought, and the ground is decorated with brightly coloured floral carpets called attapu.
On Monday, Achen took us out for an Onam lunch at a nice restaurant. the meal was a duplicate of the other traditional meals we had eaten (at the wedding and at lunch on Sunday), but no less fantastic. Since that time we have been transferred from Achen's care to that of his friend and colleague, Joy Joseph, and have moved from the luxury of Achen's house in Aluva to the prison-cell-like cloisters of the Amos Center in Kottayam. Here, we've been blessed to work with Chacko (Jacob) and Anne, and Steve (their 8 year old son), who have been teaching us how to teach English to Malayalees. As a sort of fun activity this afternoon, we created an attapu together. The meditative tedium of pulling the petals off of thousands of flowers. the impossible precision of colouring "inside the lines" with those petals as a medium. The amazement at the beauty of our finished product. If you've never made an attapu, do it. There's nothing quite as beautiful (I hope i can get some pictures of our attapu....)
Happy Onam
(back-dated post #6)
We arrived in Kerala just in time for Onam. One of the biggest holidays on the Keralan calendar, Onam is a ten-day-long celebration of the annual return to earth of the beloved mythical ruler, Mahabali. Legend has it that Mahabali was a good, kind, and generous ruler who was beloved by his people. Somehow, he offended the gods and was banished from the earth. But because he was such a swell guy, he is allowed to return for ten days each year. To celebrate the return of Mahabali, students get off from school, fancy meals are eaten, new clothes are bought, and the ground is decorated with brightly coloured floral carpets called attapu.
On Monday, Achen took us out for an Onam lunch at a nice restaurant. the meal was a duplicate of the other traditional meals we had eaten (at the wedding and at lunch on Sunday), but no less fantastic. Since that time we have been transferred from Achen's care to that of his friend and colleague, Joy Joseph, and have moved from the luxury of Achen's house in Aluva to the prison-cell-like cloisters of the Amos Center in Kottayam. Here, we've been blessed to work with Chacko (Jacob) and Anne, and Steve (their 8 year old son), who have been teaching us how to teach English to Malayalees. As a sort of fun activity this afternoon, we created an attapu together. The meditative tedium of pulling the petals off of thousands of flowers. the impossible precision of colouring "inside the lines" with those petals as a medium. The amazement at the beauty of our finished product. If you've never made an attapu, do it. There's nothing quite as beautiful (I hope i can get some pictures of our attapu....)
Happy Onam
posted by Andy at 5:00 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home