Pongal

Held on 14th Jan - 17th Jan, 2022

Pongal is one of the most popular harvest festival of South India, mainly Tamil Nadu. It is also celebrated by Tamils living in Sri Lanka. Pongal coincides with the festival Makara Sankranthi celebrated throughout India. Pongal in Tamil means 'Boiling Over or Spill Over.' The boiling over of milk in the clay pot symbolizes material abundance for the household. It also celebrated to thank the Sun God and farmstead livestock that helped create the material abundance. The festival usually falls between January 13 - 15  i.e. the last day of the Tamil month Maargazhi to the third day of Thai. It marks the day when the Sun purportedly shifts northwards.

History

Pongal celebrations are somewhat 1000 years old although some consider the festival to be much older. Epigraphic evidence suggests the celebration of the Puthiyeedu during the Medieval Chola empire days. It is thought that Puthiyeedu meant the first harvest of the year. The Sangam era literary work, the Paripaadal, refers to a fast by unmarried girls in honour of the God Vishnu in the month of Thai, known as the 'Thai Nonpu'. The link between that fast and today's harvest festival is a matter of further research.

Details of the Events

Pongal is celebrated continuously for four days:

1.  Bhogi - The first day is also known as Bogi, Bhogi Pandigai, Bhogi Pallu, Lohri, Indra Vizha.
Lord Indra is worshiped for the abundance of harvest, thereby bringing plenty and prosperity to the land. Thus, this day is also known as Indran.

• On Bhogi all people clean out their homes from top to bottom, and collect all unwanted goods. This day is meant for domestic activities and of being together with the family members. Homes are cleaned and decorated with "Kolam" - floor designs drawn in the white paste of newly harvested rice with outlines of red mud.

• Often pumpkin flowers are set into cow-dung balls and placed among the patterns. Fresh harvest of rice, turmeric and sugar-cane is brought in from the field as preparation for the following day.

• Another ritual observed on this day is Bhogi Mantalu, when useless household articles are thrown into a fire made of wood and cow-dung cakes. Girls dance around the bonfire, singing songs in praise of the gods, the spring and the harvest. The significance of the bonfire, in which is burnt the agricultural wastes and firewood is to keep warm during the last lap of winter.

• In Andhra Pradesh this day is celebrated by girls burning their old clothes and wearing the new ones after an oil massage and bath. Then follows Pongal Panai, a ritual in which new earthenware pots are painted and decorated with turmeric, flowers and mango leaves.

2.  Surya Pongal - The second day of Pongal is known as 'Surya Pongal' and is dedicated to the Sun God. It is the day on which the celebration actually begins and is also the first day of the Tamil month Thai.

• On this day the new rice is collected and cooked in pots until they over flow. It is this overflowing which means Pongal. This overflowing of rice is a joyous occasion, and the children and adults as well will shout out 'Pongal-o-Pongal!'

• The Sun God is offered boiled milk and jaggery. A plank is placed on the ground, a large image of the Sun God is sketched on it and Kolam designs are drawn around it. In the centre of the plank is drawn a large figure of the Sun God with his effulgent rays. The "Puja" of the Sun God starts after the auspicious moment of the birth of the new month Thai. Prayers are rendered to the Sun God to seek his benedictions.

• The Sun God is given pride of place during Pongal. In the villages, people gather in the courtyard and prepare the Pongal in the open. The pot in which the Pongal is cooked is decorated with flowers, sugarcane pieces, turmeric plant etc. The first offering is made to the Sun. Sweets, puddings, cooked rice or 'Sarkarai Pongal' are prepared on this day.

3.  Maattu Pongal - The third day is known as Maattu Pongal and is dedicated to cattle. Cattle play an important role in traditional Indian farms as they provide milk, they help in ploughing, they assist in transportation and also provide fertilizer.

• The festival also covers all living beings including humans, cattle and birds and crops. Even the insects are not overlooked and offered rice and flour, in the form of 'Kollam', on the entrance way of the houses.

• On this day people offer prayers to the bulls, cows and other farm animals. They are washed, decorated and honoured for their role in ensuring a good harvest. Their horns are painted and covered with shining metal caps. Multi-coloured beads, tinkling bells, sheaves of corn and flower garlands are tied around their necks. They are fed with Pongal and taken to the village centres. Devotees pay their respect to cows by bending down, like praying in temple, and touching their feet and foreheads.

• On this day, Lord Ganesh and Goddess Parvati are also worshipped and Pongal is offered to them in the 'puja'. According to a legend, once Shiva asked his bull, Basava, to go to the earth and ask the mortals to have an oil massage and bath every day and to eat once a month. Inadvertently, Basava announced that everyone should eat daily and have an oil bath once a month. This mistake enraged Shiva who then cursed Basava, banishing him to live on the earth forever. He would have to plough the fields and help people produce more food. Thus the association of this day with cattle.

• Another feature of this festival is called Jallikattu. It  is held in Madurai, Tiruchirapalli and Tanjavur on this day. Bundles of money are tied to the horns of ferocious bulls which the villagers try to retrieve. In Alanganallur, bulls are set free in a ground where youth who hold on its hump until the victory line are considered victorious. Everyone joins in the community meal, at which the food is made of the freshly harvested grain. This day is named and celebrated as Tamizhar Tirunal in a fitting manner throughout Tamil Nadu.

4.  Kanum Pongal - The fourth day is also known as Thiruvalluvar Day. The word 'Kaanum' means 'To view'. Thus this day is dedicated to family reunions. The day is very similar to Rakhsa Bandhan and Bhai Dhuj in that it is predominantly a festival where women offer prayers for the well being of their brothers.

• All the women, young and old, of the house, assemble in the courtyard. The rice is placed in the centre of the leaf, while the women ask that the house and family of their brothers should prosper. Arati is performed for the brothers with turmeric water, limestone and rice, and this water is sprinkled on the kolam in front of the house.

• Brothers pay special tribute to their married sisters by giving gifts as affirmation of their filial love. Landlords present gifts of food, clothes and money to their workforce. People visit relatives and friends to enjoy the festive season. On this day many people leave food out on banana leaves for birds to take.

Alternate Names in different parts of Asia:

1. Makara Sankranthi or Sankranthi - Andhra Pradesh, Bengal, Bihar, Goa, Karnataka, Orissa, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Manipur, Uttar Pradesh.
2. Uttarayana - Gujarat and Rajasthan.
3. Lohri - Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Punjab.
4. Maghe Sankranthi - Nepal.
5. Songkran - Thailand.
6. Pi Ma Lao - Laos.
7. Thingyan - Myanmar.
8. Moha Sangkran - Cambodia.

Holiday Status - It is a National Holiday.