It is celebrated because of the Mavali (one of the kings in old old times). Once there lived a king named mahabali .He was a very generous person. It was said that when he was the king all the people were very honest and I have heard a folklore at school that during his ages we could sleep leaving the door open at night. Then seeing this mahabali being worshipped as any thing the gods thought that he shouldn’t Get all the respect we are supposed to. Then one of the G
ods appeared before mahabali as a small boy. Then the boy(vamanan) asked the king whether he could have the land of 3 paces of his foot. Then the king thinking that his footsteps are so small and as he was sooo generous, he agreed. Then the boy began to grow in size , he grew very big and he kept his first foot on the sky, It occupied the whole space that no more of the space was there in the sky. Then he kept his second pace on the Earth the there was no space to keep the third pace, so it was believed that this king bowed his head and said to push him to the hell for his third pace. As the king’s last wish he requested to grand him the right to come to earth every year to see his subjects . Then the vamanan did it, pushing mavali to the hell. That was the end of the story and it is believed that the great king returns to see us during the time of onam every year.If you just switch on the televisions you could only see mavali and the offers of each ad.
This story was quiet unbelievable and I believe it as a folklore made b
y people to get a ten days vacation. Today My onam vacation had started, I am in utter confusion how to spend time!
