A bright and colourful cultural procession lit up the premises of one of the largest expatriate community clubs last night, as part of its ongoing Onam celebrations.
The ghoshayatra, a parade put on by various social organisations depicting traditional folklore and costumes of different parts of Kerala, took place at the Bahrain Keraleeya Samajam (BKS) yesterday.
The procession marked the annual harvest festival of Onam, which, according to mythical folklore, celebrates the return of the benevolent Keralite King Mahabali to visit his people.
The BKS Onam celebrations had officially opened earlier this week with a special ceremony featuring cultural performances and community awards.
The festivities, being held under the name ‘Sravanam 2024’ will run until the end of the month, and are expected to draw more than 10,000 visitors in total.
A major highlight will be the mega thiruvathira today, a traditional group dance organised by the BKS Ladies Wing, celebrating unity and tradition.
Amongst the musical festivities will be a concert by renowned artist G Venugopal on September 19.
South Indian nightingale K S Chithra will perform alongside Madhu Balakrishnan, Anamika and Nishant on September 20.
On the same day, BKS will also pay homage to famous Indian short story writer T Padmanabhan, who will be celebrating 70 years in creative writing.
The celebrations will come to an end with the well-known onasadhya (feast) on September 27, serving approximately 5,000 people with traditional Kerala dishes prepared by Pazhayidom Mohanan Namboothiri, reflecting the region’s rich culinary heritage.