On September 11, foreign students of the Medical Institute of PMBSNU celebrated their traditional Indian holiday Onam.
Onam is a colorful festival of rice harvest, celebrated in the South Indian state of Kerala. The Onam celebration lasts 10 days in the first month of the malayalam calendar called Ching (August-September) and marks the return of the legendary King Mahabali.
Legend has it that the golden age for Kerala came under King Mahabali. Everyone in the kingdom was happy and rich, and the king was respected for this by his subjects, despite one of his shortcomings – selfishness. The gods became jealous of Mahabali, and Vishnu in the form of Vamana, by deception taking away his kingdom, overthrew the king. However, for all his good deeds, Mahabali was given the right to visit his people every year, to whom he was so attached.
Each day of the celebration is marked by a special activity: on the first day of the festival, women decorate the courtyard in front of the house with a carpet of flowers called pukkala, and on the second and third days, new flowers are added to these carpets. Also among the entertainment at the Onam festival are competitions (tug of war), cooking the national dish Sadia, racing on snake boats and more.
Foreign students have traditionally created a carpet of flower petals, prepared a national dish, and theatrical scenes of the return of King Mahabali, who was one of the foreign students. Students also prepared interesting stories about the holiday, performed folk songs and organized several types of competitions.
The dean of the Medical Institute Gennady Gryshchenko, the deputy director of the Medical Institute for work with foreign students Olga Yaremchuk, as well as representatives of the International Department of the Petro Mohyla Black Sea National University visited Onam.
Congratulations to students from India on the national holiday Onam!
