Onam

Onam is the biggest festival in the South Indian state of Kerala. It falls during the Malayali month of Chingam (Aug-Sep) and marks the homecoming of the legendary King Mahabali. Carnival of Onam lasts for ten days and is linked to many elements of Kerala's culture and tradition. Intricately decorated Pookalam, ambrosial Onasadya, Snake boat Race and the Kaikottikali dance are some of the most remarkable featurs of Onam - the harvest festival in Kerala. (wikipedia definition). Lots of pictures and explanations of these different things are on this website http://www.onamfestival.org/.

*The beautiful pookalam outside the house next to mine! Made from flower petals.

This week I also started at the orphanage (House of Hope). I loved it the children were so cute... they were so happy for us to be there and really enjoyed the art project that Kate and I did with them. We had mirrors for the kids and they could draw a self portrait of anything that they would like using the chalk. We had them draw things that represented themselves so that we could get a sense of who they were. In the coming weeks I am going to take my cameras and laptop and with the older children do some photography and let them play around with their pictures on photoshop.

The kids did a fantastic job! Here are a few pictures of some of the kids drawings! Around christmas time last year the children made some greeting cards with traditional Indian art and sold them at my school. Kate and I are planning on having some photography for for sale this year... have the kids take the pictures and change them in photoshop then we'll go get them printed and framed to sell! The money is used to go towards the children and supporting their education, we are in the process of trying to set up a trust/scholarship type fund for the children's college education.