Thai Pongal is a harvest festival
dedicated to the Sun God. It is a four-day festival which according to
the Tamil
calendar is usually celebrated from January 14 to January
17. Thai Pongal corresponds to the harvest festival celebrated throughout
India.
Thai
Pongal is one of the most important festivals celebrated by Tamil
people in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu,
the Indian Union Territory of Puducherry, and the country of Sri
Lanka,as well as Tamils worldwide, including those in Malaysia,Mauritius,South Africa,United
States, Singapore,
Canada and UK.
The
day marks the start of the sun's six-month-long journey northwards (the
Uttaraayanam). This also corresponds to the Indic solstice when the sun
purportedly enters the 10th house of the Indian zodiac Makara or Capricorn.
Thai Pongal is mainly celebrated to convey appreciation to the Sun God for a
successful harvest. Part of the celebration is the boiling of the first rice of
the season consecrated to the Sun - the Surya Maangalyam.
The origins of the Thai Pongal festival may date to more than
1000 years ago. Epigraphic evidence suggests the celebration of the Puthiyeedu during the Medieval Chola empire days. Puthiyeedu is
believed to represent the first harvest of the year. Tamil people refer to
Pongal as "Tamizhar Thirunaal," the festival of Tamizhs. Thai
Pongal, also referred to as Makara Sankranti, is referred to in the classic
work of Hindu astrology, the Surya Siddhanta.
Thai refers to the name of
the tenth month in the Tamil calendar, Thai Pongal usually means festivity or celebration more
specifically Pongal is
translated as "boiling over" or "overflow." Pongal is also the name of a
sweetened dish of rice boiled with lentils that is ritually consumed on this
day. Symbolically, pongal signifies
the gradual heating of the earth as the Sun travels northward toward the
equinox.
PONGAL DISH
Besides rice and milk the ingredients of this sweet dish
include cardamom, raisins, Green gram (split), and cashew nuts. Cooking is done in
sunlight, usually in a porch or courtyard, as the dish is dedicated to the Sun
god, Surya. The cooking is done in a clay pot that is decorated
with coloured patterns called kolam.
Pongal
has two variants, one sweet and one savoury. The dish is served on banana leaves.Cooking pongal is a
traditional practice at Hindu temples during any part of the Temple Festival
in Tamil
Nadu.
DAYS
OF PONGAL
BHOGI
Bhogi
is also observed on the same day in Andhra
Pradesh. In the ceremony called Bhogi
Pallu, fruits of the harvest such as regi pallu and sugar cane are collected
along with flowers of the season. Money is often placed into a mixture of
treats and is poured over children. The children then separate and collect the
money and sweet fruits.This day is celebrated in Punjab as Lohri and in Assam as Magh Bihu / Bhogali Bihu.
The
day preceding Pongal is called Bhogi. On this day people discard old belongings and
celebrate new possessions. The disposal of worn-out items is similar to the
traditions of Holika in North India. The people assemble at dawn in
Tamil Nadu to light a bonfire in order to burn the discards. Houses are
cleaned, painted and decorated
to give a festive look. The horns of oxen and buffaloes are painted in
villages. In Tamil Nadu farmers keep medicinal herb (neem, avram, sankranti) in
northeast corner of each fields, to prevent crops from diseases and pests.
THAI PONGAL
The
main event, also known as Thai Pongal, takes place on the second of the four
days. This day coincides with Makara
Sankranti, a winter harvest festival
celebrated throughout India. The day marks the start of the Uttarayana, the day of the Indic solstice when the sun
purportedly enters the 10th house of the Indian zodiac i.e. Makara or Capricorn.
In
the Tamil language the word Pongal means
"overflowing," signifying abundance and prosperity.
During
the festival, milk is cooked in a vessel. When it starts to bubble and
overflows out of the vessel, freshly harvested rice grains are added to the
pot. At the same time other participants blow a conch called the sanggu and shout "Pongalo Pongal!" They also
recite "Thai Pirandhal Vazhi Pirakkum" ("the commencement of
Thai paves the way for new opportunities"). This is repeated frequently
during the Pongal festival. The Pongal is then served to everyone in the
house along with savories and sweets such as vadai, murukku, paayasam.
MAATU PONGAL
Maatu Pongal is celebrated
the day after Thai Pongal. Tamils regard cattle as sources of wealth for
providing dairy products, fertilizer, and labor for plowing and transportation.
On Maatu Pongal, cattle are recognized and afforded affectionately. Features of
the day include games such as the Jallikkattu and taming bull.
Kanu Pidi is a tradition for
women and young girls. During Kanu Pidi women feed birds and pray for their
brothers' wellbeing. As part of the "Kaka pidi, Kanu pidi" feast
women and girls place a feast of colored rice, cooked vegetables, banana and
sweet pongal on ginger or turmeric leaves for crows to share and enjoy. During
this time women offer prayers in the hope that brother-sister ties remain
forever strong as they do in a crow family.
On this day celebrants bathe and decorate their cattle with
garlands. Cows are decorated with manjalthanni (turmeric water) and oil. Shikakaiapply kungumam (kumkum) to their foreheads, paint their horns, and feed them a
mixture of venn pongal, jaggery, honey, banana and other fruits. In the evening
people pray to Lord Ganesh. One ritual is to light a torch of coconut leaves and carry
it around cattle three times and then run to the border of the village to drop
it. This is believed to remove the evil influences caused by the jealousy of other
people over the cattle.
KAANUM PONGAL
Kaanum Pongal, the fourth day of the festival,
marks the end of Pongal festivities for the year. The word kaanum in this context means
"to visit." Many families hold reunions on this day. 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
tenants. Villagers visit relatives and friends while in the cities people flock
to beaches and theme parks with their families. Celebrants chew sugar cane and again
decorate their houses with kolam. Relatives and friends receive thanks for
their assistance supporting the harvest.
In Andhra Pradesh, Mukkanuma, the final
day of Sankranthi festival, is celebrated by worshiping cattle. Mukkanuma is
famous among non-vegetarians. People do not eat non-vegetarian dishes during
the first three days of the festival, saving them for the day of Mukkanuma.
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