About 100 oarsmen row huge and graceful snake boats and men and women come from far and near to watch the snake boats skim through the water. Nearly 30 Chundan Vallams or snake boats participate in the festival. Singing traditional boat songs, the oarsmen, in white dhotis and turbans, splash their oars into the water to guide their boats to cruise along like a fish on the move. The golden lace at the head of the boat, the flag and the ornamental umbrella at the center make it a spectacular display. Each snake boat belongs to a village along the banks of the river Pampa and is worshipped like a deity. Every year the boat is oiled mainly with fish oil, coconut shell, and carbon, mixed with eggs to keep the wood strong and the boat slippery in the water. The village carpenter carries out annual repairs lovingly and people take pride in their boat, which represents their village and is named after it.

Food

All the courses in the meal are delicately balanced to add to the flavour and aid digestion. The myriad coloured preparations arranged on a fresh green banana leaf present a very beautiful picture. The meal begins with the delicately-flavoured parippu (cooked lentil), ghee (clarified butter), and papadams. This is followed by the spicy sambar. The course that follows the sambar varies from region to region. In some, sweet payasams and prathamans round off the meal, while for others these are followed by kalan, rasam, olan and buttermilk. As side dishes there are several thorans, avial, kichadis, pachadis, pickles, papadams, and curries. In some areas, a pickle is served along with the payasam, to offset its sweetness. Erishery, a curry made with pumpkin and red beans, or raw banana and yam, cooked with slit green chillies, and seasoned with mustard seeds, red chillies and scraped coconut, the main stay of sadyas, is rare now. Chena Thand Thoran, Cheeda or Kaliodakya, rice flour mixed with spices and rolled into small pellets and deep-fried in oil are also uncommon items today.

Earlier about eight varieties of pickles, including those made from different types of lemons and chillies were served on the banana leaf. Today, three types - mango, lime and ginger - are commonly seen. Earlier, an assortment of crisp chips made form banana, jackfruit, various types of yam, and sometimes even brinjal, were served at the tapering end of the leaf. Now only banana and jackfruit chips are common. The Sharkaravaratti, banana crisp fried and coated with jaggery, is still an integral part of the feast. Prathamans and payasams are the highlights of a sadya. It's a fact that whatever delicious food we have, it never gives us the satisfaction that we get from an Onasadya. That's the spirit of Onam!

- Deepa