Celebrate Onam in 2019 and Extend Your Love for Your Dear Ones by Gifting these Carefully Selected Gifts for Onam.

Onam is a traditional ten-day harvest festival celebrated in Kerala. It marks the return of the mythical King Mahabali to his hometown. It is the biggest festival for the people of Kerala. This festival of fun and gaiety is celebrated at the beginning of the month of Chingam, according to the Malayalam Calendar. The most important day of Onam is known as Thiru Onam. The 10 day rituals take place before the Thiru Onam. There are four significant days in the ten-day festival. The Onam celebrations continue for all the ten days and sometimes even longer.

The state of Kerala was formed in India in 1956 and only after that Onam became an official festival with standardized celebrations. One such celebration is the pookalam floral arrangements. Before 1956, this festival was not celebrated everywhere.

The popular Vamanamoorthy Temple in Thrikkakara in the northeast of Ernakulam near Kochi, has the biggest celebration of Onam celebration in the state. The festival is believed to have embarked from this temple. The Vamanamoorthy Temple is dedicated to Lord Vamana. He is the fifth incarnation of Lord Vishnu.

It is believed that Thrikkakara was initially inhabited by King Mahabali. He was a popular and generous demon ruler. Legend has it that his reign was a golden era in Kerala. But as his popularity and power grew, the Gods got concerned and sent King Mahabali to the world under the earth’s crust. The temple is located at the spot where this incident occurred. During this incident, King Mahabali requested Lord Vamana to let him return to his hometown in Kerala once a year to ensure the well-being of his people. He wanted to make sure his people were happy, content and well-fed. God Vamana granted this wish and King Mahabali returns to Kerala to visit his people every year during Onam.

People belonging to Kerala celebrate the festival of Onam with great pomp and show. They rejoice and distribute gifts and sweets to each other. The elders in the house particularly buy new clothes, jewelry and sweets for their young ones. Ladies make beautiful floral arrangements.

If you are looking for some gift ideas for Onam, then below is a list we have compiled for you. All these items are available on different and trustworthy e-commerce sites and you can shop online and avail quick door deliveries.

Grab these handmade chocolate wishes from www.fnp.com for Rs. 999. Packed in a pretty round glass vase featuring a diameter of 5 inches, this ones looks like an exciting goody jar. There are square shaped assorted handmade chocolates inside of approximately 400 gms. These chocolates are yummy and will definitely impress the recipient.

The glass jar comes with a pretty red ribbon tied on its neck giving it a presentable look. This jar makes the perfect gift item for your loved ones. When you want to spread happiness and sweetness around during Onam, this one happens to be the best choice.

A Kerala Kasavu cotton saree marks the Kerala tradition and culture. Every Malayali woman would love to possess this handloom saree. When deciding on a gift for Onam, what could be better than this traditional apparel? Buy it today from www.utsavfashion.com for Rs. 3,240.

Decorated in gold and white, this subtle and elegant saree would be the perfect gift for your mother, wife, sister or daughter during Onam. You can also avail tailoring services for the blouse for an additional cost. The drape is beautifully woven with Zari which imparts it a rich look. Fall and edging services are done free of cost. The saree features a beautiful and heavy pallu with a huge gold design.

A jewelry gift card would be a fantastic idea for your loved ones as they can use the money and choose to buy whatever they want. This will save you from the confusion of choosing something they would like and also complete your gifting gesture. This Joyalukkas Gold and Diamond gift card can be filled up to a denomination of Rs. 20,000.

Available at www.amazon.in, this gift voucher is valid for 12 months from the date of purchase. It is redeemable at any Joyalukkas stores across India. The card can be used for purchase of any gold or diamond jewelry except gold coin. It is redeemable partially and can be used any number of times until you exhaust the full amount.

During Onam, Malayalis gift gold and silver to their loved ones. If you are looking to buy a pure quality silver bar online, then www.tatacliq.com is a good option. Get this SriJagdamba Pearls 999 pure silver bar of 10 gm.

This gift item is a valuable asset that will increase in cost over the years to come. It is a substantial gift for the receiver. The rectangular bar features dimensions of 31 x 18 mm. It has a beautiful tree engraving on one side and informative inscriptions on the other. It is ideally a collector's item. It is available for Rs. 800

No festival celebrations are complete without feasting on sweets and desserts. This Onam, relish delectable sweets with your near and dear ones. Those who are far away from you, send them delicious sweets as Onam Gifts. www.lovenwishes.com has a wide range of Indian sweets which can be delivered at your doorstep. Choose from range of motichoor laddoos, kaju katli, gerbera, mawa barfi and a lot more. Lovenwishes also has onam cakes, fresh fruits and other gift hampers. These items can be delivered to locations in Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and many other places.

An assorted gift basket is an ideal gift for Onam as it has a lot of goodies to spread happiness and joy around. Grab these chocolates hamper in hand made tray from www.giftcart.com and send it to your loved ones on Onam. Even if you are not with them to celebrate the festive occasion, this hamper from you will fulfill your absence.

Priced at Rs. 999, this hamper contains 2 Lotte Chocó pies, 80 g of Cadbury Bourneville chocolates, 3 pieces of Ferrero Rocher chocolates, 50 g gold coin chocolates, 2 Cadbury dairy milk chocolates 18 g each and 1 nestle munch. All things are set beautifully in a handmade tray, which looks very attractive. Order now and make the best of online shopping.

Blending with the festive spirit and significance, this flower and dry fruits gift for Onam seems just too perfect. This Thiruvonam gift can be purchased from www.orderyourchoice.com for Rs. 1,528. The flower bouquet contains 24 pink roses arranged in a basket. 250 gm of dry fruits are packed in the gift too. This gift seems complete for your loved ones during Onam. The assorted dry fruits are best in quality and the flowers are sourced locally while packing.

If you want to gift somebody who loves cakes, then this flowers and cake gift for Onam is just too perfect. Order it online today from www.onlinedelivery.in for Rs. 1,395. Delight your loved ones with loads of happiness and sweetness with this unique combo of a flower bouquet and a 500 gm delicious chocolate cake.

The bouquet contains 10 multi-coloured roses in a sky blue paper packing with a blue ribbon. Flowers and desserts signify fun, gaiety and festivity. This gift symbolizes the true spirit of Onam.

If you want to gift something beyond flowers and sweets, such that will last much longer, then this leather wallet from www.williampenn.net is too good to ignore. This Quick Brown Fox Slim bi-fold wallet is priced at Rs. 1,295.

The wallet is made of high-quality leather and features two bill compartments and a slip-in pocket at the back. It can house eight credit cards easily. There are two slip-in pockets here too. The wallet features dimensions of 102 x 95 mm.

An imported fresh fruit basket is another great choice for Onam gifts as the festival is all about spreading and sharing good food, desserts, sweetness and happiness. www.myfloralkart.in has a lovely choice of fresh fruit hampers which can be ordered online. This imported fruit basket is priced at Rs. 2,980. You need to fill in the details of your required city and date on the website. You can also increase the quantity of the hampers as per need.

This particularly imported fruit hamper contains 5kgs of imported fruit like Green apple, red apple, pomegranate, oranges, mango, pears, peaches, kiwi, strawberry, berries, grapes, pineapple, melon in a cane basket. Fruits may vary according to availability in that city. The fruits are arranged beautifully in an appealing looking basket which is further decorated with floral motifs.

On the first day on Atham, people bathe early and offer prayers. They then begin with their floral decorations on the front of their houses to welcome the king. These floral decorations or pookalams are done for all the ten days up till Thiru Onam. There are various pookalam competitions held by various organizations to encourage the people to carry on with the traditions. Each day of Onam has its own ceremonial significance and the authorities perform several rites to worship the main deity and other deities. Lord Vamana’s idol is decorated in ten different avatars of Lord Vishnu on each day of the celebration.

The Onam festival kick starts with the first day celebrations known as Athachamayam. On this day, apparently, the Maharaja of Kochi used to take his ritual march from Tripunithura to Thrikkakara Temple. The festival has taken a modern day avatar now but still follows some of the ancient traditions. It features a street parade with decorated elephants along with musicians, floats and various other traditional art forms of Kerala.

At Thrikkakara Temple, a special flag hoisting ceremony is held on the first day of Onam, i.e., Atham. The celebrations then continue for ten days with cultural music, dance performances and art displays. A grand procession, known as pakalpooram on the day of Thiru Onam is carried out. In this procession, the main deity, Lord Vamana, is carried around the Temple on an elephant, along with a group of caparisoned elephants behind him.

Thrissur, another town in Kerala, however, has some unusual activities happening during Onam festival. Grass-clad and masked Kummatti dancers perform on the streets to entertain the crowds during the four main days of Onam. In this performance, men dress up as tigers and perform pulikkali folk dance a few days after Onam.

A major part of the Onam festival is the Snake Boat Races. People from across the globe gather every year during Onam to see these spectacular boat races. Not only do people take part in these boat races, but they also buy new clothes and play games. They also celebrate by swinging. To make the most of the Snake Boat Races, Kerala Tourism hosts special events for an entire week during Onam. One gets to see most of Kerala’s culture during these events in Trivandrum.

When it comes to food, Malayalis indulge in lavish feasts during Onam. The highlight of the festival is the ‘Onasadya’, a typical feast served on a banana leaf during Thiru Onam. Onasadya consists of a variety of dishes. It is also cooked daily at the Thrikkakara temple and thousands of people feast on this prasadam during the main festival day.