Onam is one of the most important harvest festivals of Kerala. It commemorates King Mahabali. The floral Rangoli, known as Onapookkalam, Athapookkalam or just Pookkalam is made with fresh flowers and flower petals particularly at entrances and temple premises like a flower mat. These are generally circular in shape.
As it is a harvest festival, fresh flowers have a significant connection. Pookalam is the rangoli design or pattern that is made with fresh flowers to welcome guests, as well as King Mahabali.
The diameter of a Pookalam can range from 4 to 5 meters. During Onam, Pookalam laying starts from the first day of Onam and the size is increased everyday for 15 days. Thumba flower is considered very auspicious to be used during Onam.
In some places, a leaf of Tulsi and flowers of thumba are placed at the centre of the pookkalam as a traditional practice. Earlier, only Thumba flowers were used for making pookkalam on Atham, which marks the first day of Onam festivities.
There is no rule about the design, though concentric circles were the generally accepted one. Moolam day is different from the rest, however, in that the pookkalam would be square on the day, signifying moola (corner).
In general the Pookalam should not exceed the above said diameter. colour powder should not be used during the process of designing. Make sure to remove all of the petals' leaves and stems, then arrange them according to colour, size, and shape. To add brightness to your pookalam, some of the flower varieties that can be used for the rangoli include thumba, tulasi, chethi, and chembarathi. Yellow, orange and white marigold flower petals with green leaves are used in this pattern to give an exquisite look. Not to forget the red flower petals used, which give a beautiful definition to the pattern.
(This blogpost is a part of BlogChatter's #BLOGCHATTERA2Z2023)
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