PONGAL FESTIVITIES
P—Anonymous ongal, Tamil Nadu’s biggest festival, begins on 14 January and ends on 17 January, celebrated as Bhogi Pongal, Thai Pongal or Surya Pongal, Mattu Pongal and Kaanum Pongal. The festival corresponds with Makar Sankranti and Uttarayan celebrated across the rest of the country, and is a celebration of a golden harvest, when farmers express gratitude to the Sun God and Lord Indra. In other words, the festival is commended as a thanksgiving ceremony for the year’s harvest. In literal terms, ‘pongal’ means ‘to boil’.
Across the four days of festivities, Bhogi Pongal is celebrated as a tribute to Lord Indra, the god of rain. People observe the ritual of Bhogi Mantalu, during which old and worthless items of the household are tossed into a bonfire made using cow-dung cakes and wood. People clean their homes and decorate them with ‘kolams’ (rangoli) and adorn their homes with lamps and fresh flowers.
Thai Pongal is the main day of the Pongal festivities. It is also called Surya Pongal because on this day, people worship Surya, the Sun God and his consorts, Chaya and Samgnya. A major event on this day is boiling rice with milk in a pottery pot as an offering to the Sun God. The pot has a turmeric plant is tied to it, and it is boiled over clay stoves outside one’s home. Along with this, sugarcane, coconuts and bananas are also offered to the god. Women decorate the courtyard of their homes with kolams, using rice flour, bordering it with red clay. The third day of the festival is Mattu Pongal, celebrated to glorify cattle, which help farmers in a myriad ways. On this special day, the farmers embellish their cows with multi-coloured beads, tinkling bells, sheaves of corn, and garlands. The cows are then offered the pongal. Bull fights, also called “Jallikattu” are organised across the state. The bull-taming sport is especially well known in Madurai District of Tamil Nadu.
Kaanum or Kanu Pongal signifies the last day of Pongal. The leftover pongal and other food items are set out in the courtyard on a turmeric leaf, along with betel leaves, betel nuts and sugar cane. All the women of the house assemble in the patio and pray for their brothers and family’s prosperity. The ritual is then followed by an ‘aarti’ using turmeric water, rice, vermillion, limestone. This holy water is then sprinkled everywhere, including outside the house.
The festival of Pongal is all about giving, which is a form of thanksgiving to the entire creation while acknowledging it as the power that sustains life.
And here’s wishing that you carry on the spirit of Pongal throughout the year.
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