Can a good Catholic join the Onam celebrations? (BJMM044)

Can a good Catholic join the Onam celebrations?

(Dr. Edward Edezhath)

Sibi came to me with a serious doubt. “I hear different views on Onam. Isn't it something unchristian? They also say that our participation in such non-Christian practices is the reason for many of the curses and misfortunes in life.”

I shared my experience and some thoughts with Sibi. I come from Kerala and have a very active Catholic faith background. Looking back to my childhood days, the cultural festivals of my place were occasions for everyone to gather to share love and fellowship. There were Christmas, Onam, Vishu, and other joyful festival days. Each had specific celebrations. Onam and Vishu were known for the good ‘Sadhya’ or nice vegetarian meal. For Christmas, there were stars and decorations and Carols.  In my village, where Hindus and Christians lived in harmony, everyone celebrated all these festivals. These were beautiful occasions of love and sharing. 

These celebrations were not limited to homes and neighborhoods. Schools, colleges, and all other institutions also celebrated it. Even in Churches, Onam and Vishu were announced as local harvest festivals, and all were urged to pray for a culture of peace and amity. Outside the churches, there would be a ‘flower carpet’ symbolizing the joy of Onam.

“Don’t you know about Mahabali and who he is? And is it right to make flower carpets to welcome a deity like him?” Sibi intervened. I smiled. In Kerala, who doesn’t know the traditional legend? Almost everyone knows the legendary story of Mahabali. They also know what cultural legends are and how to take a story like that of Vamana and Mahabali. During Onam, when children roam the fields, sing songs, collect flowers, and make beautiful flower carpets, no one prays to any strange god or expects Mahabali to come from the underworld and stand on those flowers. They are not so gullible; instead, for everyone, that is a time to celebrate, bringing alive the beauty of the culture of the land.  

We had more festivals in our village. On June 24th, there used to be festive boat races to celebrate the feast of St. John the Baptist. On the feast of Corpus Christi, the Body and Blood of Christ, the streets were decorated with banana bunches and plants. All our villagers, including those from other faiths, joined these celebrations. Then, when the monsoon came, there was the medicinal gruel or ‘marunnu kanji’ with all kinds of medicinal plants. There are some Hindu legends about this and other Ayurvedic medicines given to the land by Dhanvanthari, a divine avatar of the god Vishnu. During every monsoon season, all have this special medicinal gruel, and no one thought of it or other Ayurvedic medicines as something un-Christian or as some medicine of the Hindu religion. 

These were avenues of love and sharing.

No one had any doubt these festivals were opportunities to come together and express our community spirit and love. As Christians, we were all the more eager to participate, as these are natural ways of leaving behind distrust, prejudices, and suspicions and preparing a ground to share Christ’s love. Naturally, this often prepared the way for people of other religions to visit Churches, and later, at least some of them entered the Christian fold. On the other hand, I don’t think anyone would leave faith in Christ by celebrating Onam. 

In recent years, there have been increasing efforts to eliminate opportunities for everyone to come together in public spaces. Certain radical religious teachings, politicization of religion and sectarian mentality are widening the gap between people of different faiths. Initially it was not Christians who started that. But now, unfortunately, some Christians are also moving in that direction.  This is all from mutual suspicion and resentment, surely not the work of love but the evil one. What does the Lord want? Isn’t it to grow in greater understanding, fraternal love, and working together towards the reign of love?

People again ask: Can a Christian show obeisance to another god by making a flower carpet in honor of Mahabali, an ‘asura,’ a representation of the devil? Isn’t it against our faith? 

As I pointed out, making these flower arrangements is a beautiful cultural practice, and interpreting it as a sign of worship is unnecessary and completely misleading. Prayer and worship are based on your desire to honor God; you do it with your heart and mind. When all Keralites in homes, schools and in public places have festivities, games and flower carpets no one is doing it for any deity and never for any evil one. Ascribing such motives is really uncharitable. In other words, no one celebrates Onam and makes a flower carpet to receive graces from Mahabali or thinks of him as any god. This is similar to the controversy on Christmas celebration and Santa Claus that is brewing in some other areas, saying that placing Santa in shops is making it Christian. Santa has come to be a sign of joy and gift giving and a call by people of some religious fanatics is similarly misplaced. 

On worshiping other gods, St Paul says, "We know that there is no other God but one" (1 Cor 8:4). We Christians believe that there is only one God. We have not learned that spirituality is a competition between many gods. We don't associate jealousy with the God of love that Jesus taught us. Surely, we do not celebrate Onam as a worship of God.  

It is not in the good Christian spirit to exploit the doubts and hesitations of simple Catholics through unnecessary and misleading teachings. We are called to build friendships and connections with believers of other faiths to make it easier for Jesus to enter their lives and bring salvation. The teaching of the Chruch is quite clear on this. “The Church reproves, as foreign to the mind of Christ, any discrimination against men or harassment of them because of their race, color, condition of life, or religion. On the contrary, following in the footsteps of the holy Apostles Peter and Paul, this sacred synod ardently implores the Christian faithful to "maintain good fellowship among the nations" (1 Peter 2:12), and, if possible, to live for their part in peace with all men, so that they may truly be sons of the Father who is in heaven.” (Vatican II. Nostra Aetate, 5)

St. Pope John Paul II, while urging lay Catholics to do evangelization, talks about the need to join people of other faiths in a spirit of love, “The lay faithful can favor the relations which ought to be established with followers of various religions through their example in the situations in which they live and in their activities: "Throughout the world today the Church lives among people of various religions... All the Faithful, especially the lay faithful who live among the people of other religions, whether living in their native region or in lands as migrants, ought to be for all a sign of the Lord and his Church, in a way adapted to the actual living situation of each place. Dialogue among religions has a preeminent part, for it leads to love and mutual respect, and takes away, or at least diminishes, prejudices among the followers of various religions and promotes unity and friendship among peoples.” (Pp. John Paul II. Christifideles Laici, 35).

So, what is the conclusion? Can a good Catholic celebrate Onam? Yes, they can. And what is more, as the saintly Pope tells us, we should wholeheartedly join in that beautiful fellowship and celebrations and give praise to God.