 Onam festival at DakshinaChitra
DakshinaChitra is celebrating Onam from August 18 to 27, 2006, with the main objective of creating awareness about the various village traditions among urbanites and to give visitors a chance to enjoy themselves in a unique ambience of festivity. During the festival, DakshinaChitra will transfigure into a bright spectacle of Kerala gaiety with colourful pookolam, devotional music, thoranam decoration and lamps to greet every visitor at the
centre.
A group of performers will perform the vibrant and colourful traditional performing arts 'Theyyam' which is the most outstanding of the folk arts of Kerala, especially in the northern regions. It's also called Thirayattam, (because every thira or village performed this ritualistic art at the village temple). This primitive ritualistic art demands long hours of preparation.
The Theyyam or Kolam, represents a mythological, divine or heroic character. There are over 350 Theyyams in northern Kerala. The hood, headdress, face painting, breast plate, bracelets, garlands and fabric of attire of each of these kolams are distinct and meticulously crafted according to the character presented. The instruments used are chenda and veekuchenda (drums), elathalam and kuzhal (horn). This art form is mostly performed in Bhagavathy temples. This folk performance of Kerala will be performed intermittently on all the nine days of the festival.
As part of the Onam festivities, an exhibition of photographs in the Art Gallery
'Kerala: Gods and Men' by Jonathan Watts will be held in collaboration with the Alliance Francaise of Madras. The extraordinary photographs of this French photographer allow us to witness the richness of the people and customs of the state.
The contrast of the light and dark, good and evil, beauty and ugliness, fire and water and that of high and low castes attending these rituals, reflect the delicate balance between the modern and traditional world and earthly and the spiritual needs of a culture in permanent evolution.
Jonathan Watts, photographer for the Ethnographic Museum of Geneva, documented these rituals during the course of field missions. During these moments of great celebration and joy, the villagers, encompassed by music and dance, make-up and colourful costumes, offerings and blessings, communicate directly with their Gods.
Ayurveda is a holistic system of health care that teaches us to balance these energies in order to achieve optimum health and well being. An exhibition of Ayurveda is also being organised in the Calicut House of DakshinaChitra where you can observe a small treatment room and a preparation room. There will be an exhibition of spices as well.
DakshinaChitra craftshop will have special arrangements for the same. The display would take a complete Kerala hue highlighting the crafts and textiles of Kerala. Paintings of Sri Ravi Varma will also be on display.
A three-day workshop on mural paintings depicting the enormous architectural potential of Kerala will be held on August 25, 26 and 28 by K R Babu, an expert in both traditional and contemporary art.
To add flavour to the festivities, DakshinaChitra’s restaurant `Kanali’, supported by the MGM group, will serve mouth-watering Malayalee delicacies.
R Rangaraj
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