Onam

Onam is a harvest festival in my state Kerala which is in India. It is a major festival in people who all are living in and outside Kerala. In my village onam celebration include boat races, women  dance (Thiruvathira), flower arrangement etc.It is an official state festival of kerala with four days public holiday. Onam falls in the month of chingam which is the first month of Malayalam calender. In my house we are celebrating 4th day although some people celebrating all four days. On that day we wore traditional dress like men shirt and mundu and women kerala saree or kasavu saree. Onam sadya is the traditional nine or more different vegetarian meal served on banana leaf with banana chips. Normaly we ate it lunch eventhough some people dinner time. On these days we will not eat non-vegetarian food. Onam sadya end with different type of dessert payasam.In my family one week early we will  start the preparation which includes buying new dress and we have to make some dishes one week early. We were celebrated onam in Australia 2 months ago, but I am not preparing all dishes.