ONAM

Onam is celebrated in kerala in the first month of Kerala calender. Wherever kerala people live, they unite and celebrate this festival in a grand scale.They make colorful rangoli with a variety of flowers. One of the attraction of this festival is the snake boat race.
Parashurama killed shatriyas 21 times and won their land. He donated all the property to the brahmanas. He never kept anything for himself. so he requested varun devata to give a place to live. varun said- "you throw your parasu into the ocean. how far it goes, that much of ocean will dry and that land belongs to you. now that land is called kerala. On this day of the year Parashurama built a temple for Lord Vishnu. So they celebrate this day as Onam..
Raja Mahabali ruled kerala wisely.he looked after his people with love and affection. he was very religious and known for his charitry also. Indra was jealous of Maha Bali's popularity and he requested Lord Vishnu to play some trick on Maha Bali. Lord vishnu agreed and took the form of a dwarf(Vamana Avtar). He went to Maha bali and asked for three steps of land to do tapasya. Maha Bali agreed. Immediately Lord Vishnu took gigantic figure (Virat form) and in two steps he measured land and heaven. For the third step Maha Bali asked Vishnu to place his feet on his head. Lord Vishnu blessed him to stay in the pathal lok(underground) and gave him a boon. Maha Bali asked that he should visit his people once a year to enquire about their welfare. Vishnu obliged. They believe that raja maha bali who ruled them, comes every year to bless his people on this day. Hence they worship Maha Bali and Lord Vishnu on Onam.