MATTU PONGAL CELEBRATION

The third day of Pongal is dedicated to cattle and is called Mattu Pongal. People offer prayers to the bulls, cows and other farm animals. Cows and bulls have always held a special place in India. Cows give nourishing milk while bulls and oxen help plough the fields. Thus, Maatu Pongal is a day when cattle are given a well deserved day of rest and are given pride of place. Therefore the farmers honor their cattle friends by celebrating it as a day of thanks-giving to them.       

                                                          
Legend

On this day, Lord Ganesh and Goddess Parvati are worshiped 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.

Puja Process

The cattle are washed, their horns are painted and covered with shining metal caps. Multi-colored 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, followed by an aarthi (showing fire to the object of praise) and offering the cattle prasadam (food offering, in this case, Pongal).

Jalliakttu- A Bull Festival

A festival called Jallikattu 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. 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.

 Imbibed in the culture of South India is the pride festival of Tamil Nadu, Jallikattu. 

Like all the festivals that pour magic in your holidays in Tamilnadu, the cultural festival of Jallikattu has its own authenticity.

The sport is played in an open ground where a bull is let loose amid hordes of people who try to control the bull by piling on its hump or horns. Tourists from all over the world travel to witness this festival as Tamils consider Jallikattu as a symbol of dignity of its outstanding culture and hence is engraved in the pages of Tamil history. With that being said, this popular festival of Tamilnadu has its special mention in Dravidian Literature as well and got its name from the tamil words 'jalli' which means gold or silver coins and 'kattu' meaning tied; which means that whoever tames the bull wins the silver or gold coins that are tied to the horns of the bull. Furthermore, the bulls that win in the festival are used for breeding and also bag the highest price in markets.

The Un forgettable Protest by Tamil nadu youngsters:

                     2017 pro-jallikattu protests, also known as the pro-jallikattu movement or Thai Puratchi refers to numerous leaderless apolitical youth groups protesting in January 2017 in large groups in several locations across the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, with some sporadic smaller protests taking place across India, as well as overseas. The chief motivation of the protest was against the Supreme Court's order to ban jallikattu a traditional Tamil bull taming sport, which is held during Pongal, a harvest festival in the state of Tamil Nadu, India. The sport is conducted annually on the second day of the Tamil month Thai. The sport was banned by the Supreme Court in a decision citing cruelty to animals based on a lawsuit filed by the animal rights activists group, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals PETA, which asserted that the tradition violates the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act

The first large protests occurred on 8 January 2017, when several groups, organised largely via social media, conducted a protest at the Marina beach in Chennai to revoke the ban on jallikattu which was imposed in 2014. These groups also demanded that PETA be banned from India.  The protests soon gained momentum and spread all over Tamil Nadu. After several days of protests, jallikattu was finally legalised locally on 23 January when the Government of Tamil Nadu passed a bill to amend the PCA Act. As the legalisation is not Indian federal law, but rather state law, there is concern from Indian legal experts that jallikattu could be banned once again by the Supreme Court.

The largely peaceful nature of the protests received praise from all over the country and inspired the legalisation movements of several other Indian states' traditional outlawed celebrations. Despite violence on 23 January, this perception continued after the Tamil Nadu Police reported that the violence was caused by anti-social elements co-opting the protest, and not the student protesters themselves. The movement has been described as a symbol for Tamil pride and has largely been compared to the anti-Hindi agitations of Tamil Nadu and dubbed by many as Thai Puratchi.

HIGHLIGHTS OF JALLIKATTU

·         Jallikattu owns its name from the Tamil words 'Jalli' and 'Kattu' which mean silver, gold coins and tied respectively. This concept is incorporated in the festival where gold and silver coins are tied on the horns of the bulls and whoever tames the bull takes the price.

·         This traditional sport was first played by the Ayars (ethnic groups of India) of Tamil classical period in 400-100 BC. Later it appeared as a platform for people to showcase courage and strength who in turn were rewarded.

·         Jallikattu is the pride of Tamil culture and is celebrated in the 10th month which is January as per the Tamil calendar.

·         It is a one-day event which is celebrated on Mattu Pongal, the third day of the famous Pongal festival.
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