Also known as: Thiruvonam · Thiru Onam · Onam Sadya · Atham · Uthradam
Surat timings
Date
Wednesday, August 22, 2029
Wednesday
Nakshatra
Shravana
Sunrise
6:20 AM
Sunset
7:02 PM
Moonrise
5:49 PM
Moonset
4:31 AM
Shubh muhurat in Surat
Rahu Kaal — avoid12:41 PM – 2:16 PM
The tradition names no separate muhurat for this festival — it is observed through the day. Abhijit is the day’s generally auspicious window and Rahu Kaal the one to avoid.
Onam is Kerala’s harvest festival and the homecoming of Mahabali, the king whose reign is remembered as the age when everyone was equal. It is dated by neither a tithi nor a sankranti but by a nakshatra — the day the Moon stands in Thiruvonam during Chingam, the first month of the Malayalam year — which is why it can fall anywhere from mid-August to mid-September.
How it is observed
The ten days run from Atham to Thiruvonam, with a pookalam — a carpet of flowers — laid at the doorway each morning, a ring wider than the day before. Thiruvonam itself is the Onasadya: two dozen or so vegetarian dishes served on a banana leaf and eaten by hand, payasam last. The vallam kali boat races and the Pulikali tiger dance belong to the same week.