Sheikh Hamdan greets Happy Onam to everyone, shares picture of traditional feast

Syed Shyaaan Bakht, Staff Reporter

Sheikh Hamdan Bin Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and Chairman of The Executive Council of Dubai, greeted Onam to his followers on his Instagram account.

Sheikh Hamdan shared a picture of the Onam sadhya o his stories and wrote “HappyOnam.”

The sport-enthusiastic Crown Prince is an avid lover of culture and nature.

He often shares videos and photos that usually garner thousands and thousands of likes and comments on social media platforms.

He has over 16 million followers on his Instagram account.

Hamdan’s Instagram bio reads, “Every picture has a story and every story has a moment that I'd love to share with you. Thanks and enjoy."

The Onam is an annual Indian harvest festival celebrated predominantly in Kerala.

The ten-day festivities peak on Thiruvonam, which is the second of the four Onam days that ends on Thursday.

And the highlight irrespective of caste, creed or religion is the traditional 26 dish Onam 'sadhya' (feast).

The sadhya especially, during Onam, has to be served on the banana leaf and in some places it’s partaken while sitting on the floor, reminiscing the olden style.

The 26 dish lunch includes chips, papads, various preparation of vegetables, a good number of pickles both sweet and sour, the traditional aviyal, sambar, dal curry served along with a small quantity of ghee, rasam, two different preparations of butter milk, a chutney powder prepared from grated coconut and not to mention a series of mouth watering payasams eaten either straight or mixed with a ripe small plantain.

But over the years, with every cultural activity in the state getting modified because of the hectic life, in actual practice, today it’s a rarity that the rule of serving the 26 dish Onam lunch gets actually prepared in Kerala homes.