Introduction:
The spectacular carnival and the biggest festival of Kerala, Onam has a well defined tradition of gifts. Onam Gifts tradition helps to heighten the level of enthusiasm and raise the spirit of harmony amongst the traditional people of Kerala. Children are particularly excited on Onam as they receive lots of gift from their numerous uncles and aunts.
In several households in Kerala, children are greeted Onam best wishes with a silver coin. New clothes and lots of other gifts are given to children and all other members of the family as a norm. For kids Onam is a time for wish fulfillment as uncles, aunts, grandparents, family friends and elder siblings are all too happy to pamper them on the joyous occasion of Onam.
In the conventional large joint families in Kerala called Tarawads where over hundred people reside in one big house, the eldest member of the family called Karanwar presents Onam Gifts to juniors and dependents of the family as a custom. New clothes are most commonly exchanged amongst the family members as a tradition to wish each other a Happy Onam.
Dependants of Tarawad present their farm produce or the product of their toil on the ninth day of Onam. They are greeted with a lavish meal of Onasadya on Thiruvonam day for the courtesy. Artisans in the village too visit Tarawads with their finest handwork and are suitably rewarded on the auspicious occasion of Onam.
As more and more people are moving out of their hometowns in pursuit of higher studies or for better jobs there has been an increase in the trend of sending Onam Gifts by courier. Online Onam Shopping sites are booming and many of them provide the provision to send Onam Gift with their own delivery service. This makes it convenient for the people to send Onam Gifts to their loved ones at desired places across the world.
Onam is a spectacular carnival and the state festival of Kerala. It is celebrated with great zeal and gusto all over the state. People celebrate this festival with great pomp and show. There are grand celebrations, grand feasts, community get together and exchange of good wishes and gifts on the occasion of Onam. These gifts add on to the level of enthusiasm and raise the spirit of harmony amongst the traditional people of the states. Children are particularly excited about the Onam celebrations because they receive lots of gifts on the occasion. There are several kinds of gifts that can be presented on the occasion. Though people often stick to traditional gift items like clothes, if you want you can do a lot of experiment with the gifts depending upon whom you are going to present that.
Gifts Exchange On Onam
According to the Onam traditions, the eldest member of the family is supposed to gift his entire family with new clothes, sweets and other useful items on the occasion. Thus, the in the conventional large joint families in Kerala called ‘Tarawads’, the eldest member of the family called ‘Karanwar’ presents Onam gifts to all the members of his family on the occasion of Tiruvonam. In nuclear families or in the urban areas, the father and mother present Onam gifts to their kids. Exchange of gifts also takes place between friends and neighbors.
Onam Gifts Ideas
On the occasion of Onma festivities, if you also want to gift your friends and family with some ideal Onam gifts, here are few options you can chose from.
Silver Coin
The most popular and traditional gift given Onam is ‘Silver Coin’. Generally people prefer coins with Laxmi- Ganesh images as it is not only presentable but also auspicious.
Gold Jewelry
Gold Jewelry is also popular gift exchange amongst families. Generally, fathers present their daughters with expensive gold jewelries and husbands also present their wife with traditional gold jewelries.
Clothes
Clothes are the most commonly presented Onam gifts. The elders of the family present several traditional dresses to the younger members of their family. People were this dress on the day of Tiruvonam, the tenth day of the celebrations.