• September 9, 2022

Malayalee associations start postponing Onam celebrations as mark of respect to demise of Queen Elizabeth

By A Staff Reporter

LONDON Sept 9: Malayalee associations in the UK have begun postponing their Onam celebrations as mark of respect to the demise of Queen Elizabeth.

A period of national mourning has begun and is set to last until the funeral, which is expected to take place 10 days after the Queen’s death.

The first news of an Onam celebration being cancelled was made on the same day of the Queen’s demise. The Onam celebrations and Sree Narayana Guru Jayanthi (Chathayaghosham), which was to be held on Saturday 10th September 2022 has been cancelled by the organisers. In a note to this website SNDP Cambridge said: “As mark of respect to the demise of Queen’s death the Onam and Guru Jayanthi celebrations which was to be held on 10th September in Cambridge has been postponed. The new date will be published later”.

Now more organisations have come forward to postpone their Onam celebrations during the mourning period until the funeral.

Onam celebrations at St James Marthoma Church which was scheduled to be held on 10th September has now been postponed.

Onam festival at Indian YMCA scheduled to be held on 11th September 2022 has now been postponed.

Onam celebrations of the Malayalee Association of UK, scheduled to be held on 17th September at the East Ham Town Hall has been postponed.

Sree Narayana Guru Mission’s Guru Jayanthi programme will go ahead but they will not have the On Sadhya in Croydon and East Ham.

Plymouth Malayalee Association are too planning to cancel or postpone their celebrations which are scheduled to be held on 17th September, as per notification on their social media.

Keralites in UK were preparing for the month Onam festival with halls being booked during weekends for the traditional Ona sadhya and cultural festivities which included ganamela. It is to be noted that during the time of grief whether it would be wise for such celebrations to go ahead before the funeral.

The news was unexpected and therefore there will be a dilemma within the community on whether they need to continue with the celebrations or make it a muted one. However, it is to be seen how the establishments which has rented out the halls would react to the news of the Queen’s death. Even if the celebrations go ahead and if the event is before the funeral then it has to be muted as it is unexpected on how the public will react as the Queen’s stature, as mentioned above, is intrinsically woven into the fabric of modern Britain.

Please check with the organisers for an update on respective Onam celebrations which you are looking to attend.

If you are an organisation looking to update the public on your Onam celebrations please email editor@ukmalayalee.com