Celebrating
Kerala
Notes for an address
by Hon. David Kilgour, Secretary
Of State (Latin America
and Africa)
to Canadian Kerala Cultural
Association of Alberta
Lebanese Druze Centre, Edmonton,
Alberta, Sept. 2, 2000
Many centuries ago, King
Mahabali of Kerala, sacrificed
his life to the nether world
to save his people from
destruction. But King Mahabali
was so attached to his kingdom
and so loved by his people
that the gods allowed him
to return to Kerala once
a year. Today we celebrate Onam, the most important
cultural festival of the
Kerala people. Today we
celebrate the bounties of
nature, a year of good harvest
and of course we celebrate
the day King Mahabali returns
from his exile to visit
his people.
In my preparations for
today, it struck me how
many similarities there
are between Kerala and Canada.
There are of course, no
wondrous beaches and coconut
trees where we stand today
but there is in Canada a
wonderful diversity of dedicated
and hard-working people.
In my readings of Kerala,
those who had travelled
there were left with the
impression of a people with
a rich diversity of cultures
where Hindus, Muslims, Christians
and Jews, all with their
own customs and traditions
lived together. The Keralite
people are also described
as a people with a deep
appreciation and understanding
of the land which sustains
them. These are words that
strike a familiar chord.
It is almost as if a little
piece of Kerala exists here
today. And perhaps it does.
According to another legend
from many centuries ago, Parsurama, an incarnation
of Lord Vishnu, threw his
mighty battle-ax into the
Arabian Sea. With this act
emerged a fertile land with
beautiful beaches and bountiful
seas. This land of course
is Kerala. Now, this was
many years ago and I wasn’t
there to see it, but I believe
as Lord Vishnu’s mighty battle-ax fell, a tiny chunk
of Kerala flew high into
the sky, and this little
piece flew with such force
that it travelled a great
distance, across the oceans
and landed here, where we
stand today. Here today
is the proof, a gathering
of Kerala’s children,
in a rich land of diverse
people. That is why I celebrate
with you today. So today,
we feast and sing and dance
in the festival of Onam.
But if I may I would like
to propose this toast. A
toast to the fortunes of
Fate that brought that tiny
piece of Kerala to this
distant corner of the earth.
A toast to the fortunes
of Fate that have allowed
me and the people of Canada
to share and experience
the beauty of Kerala in
a land so distant from its
ancestral home.
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