-Thai Pongal (தைப்பொங்கல்) or Pongal (பொங்கல்) is a harvest festival celebrated in South India at the end of the harvest season.[1] It is one of the most important festivals celebrated by the Tamils in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, the Indian Union Territory of Puducherry[2][3] and Sri Lanka.
Pongal marks the beginning of the northward journey of the Sun from its southernmost-limit, a movement traditionally referred to as uttarayana.[4] It coincides with the festival Makara Sankranthi celebrated throughout India as the winter harvest,[5] and is usually held from January 13–16 in the Gregorian calendar i.e. from the last day of the Tamil month Maargazhi to the third day of Thai.[6] The second of the four days or the first day of month Thai is the main day of the festival which is known as Pongal or Thai Pongal. This also represents the Indic solstice when the sun purportedly enters the 10th house of the Indian zodiac i.e. Makar or Capricorn.[6]
The word pongal itself refers to the "boiling over" of milk and rice during the month of Thai.[7] The saying "Thai Pirandhal Vazhi Pirakkum" meaning "the commencement of Thai paves the way for new opportunities" is often quoted regarding the Pongal festival.[6] Tamils thank the Sun god (Surya) for the good harvest and consecrate the first grain to him on this 'Surya Mangalyam'. Tamilians decorate their homes with banana and mango leaves and embellish the floor with decorative patterns drawn using rice flour.[2]
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The history may well be more than 1000 years old although some are of the view that the festival is older than that. 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.[8] The link between that fast and today's harvest festival needs to be further researched. Tamils refer to Pongal as "Tamizhar Thirunaal" (meaning "the festival of Tamils")[9] Makara Sankranti in turn is referred to in the Surya Siddhanta.
Kolam drawn during Thai Pongal.
Kolam decorations in front of house during Thai Pongal
Thai refers to the name of the tenth month in the Tamil calendar, Thai (தை).[4] Pongal in Tamil generally refers to festivity;[10] more specifically Pongal means "boiling over" or "overflow". The boiling for the household.[4] Pongal is also the name of a sweetened dish of rice boiled with lentils which is ritually consumed on this day.[5] Symbolically, pongal signifies the warming i.e. boiling of the season as the Sun travels northward towards the equinox.
Main article: Pongal (dish)
Pongal being cooked.
Pongal being cooked in a city home.
Besides rice and milk the ingredients of the sweet dish Pongal dish include cardamom, jaggery, raisins, mung dhal, 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 called kollam which is decorated with coloured patterns. There are two versions of pongal, one sweet the other salted. The prepared dish is served on banana leaves.[4]
Apart from Pongal Day celebrations, cooking pongal is a traditional practice at Hindu temples during any Temple Festival in Tamil Nadu. The community will convene to cook pongal rice, partake of it and distribute it to those present.
Bhogi Pandigai / Bhogi Pallu / Lohri /
The day preceding Pongal is called Bhogi when people discard old things and focus on new belongings. The disposal of derelict things is similar to Holika in North India. The people assemble at dawn in Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh to light a bonfire to discard old used possessions. The house is cleaned, painted and decorated to give a festive look. In villages, the horns of oxen and buffaloes are painted in colors and in most rural parts of Andhra Pradesh people celebrate it in a grand way as most of them would have their harvest ready or even would have made money out of the harvests.
This tradition is observed on the same day in Andhra Pradesh where it is also called "Bhogi." The fruits from the harvest are collected (such as regi pallu and sugar cane), along with flowers of the season, in a ceremony called Bhogi Pallu Money is often placed into a mixture of Bhogi Pallu, and the mixture is poured over children, who then collect the money and sweet fruits.
This day is celebrated in Punjab as Lohri and in Assam as Magh Bihu / Bhogali Bihur.
Pongal Pandigai.
Newly cooked rice and savouries prepped for celebrating pongal.
Pongal itself falls on the first day of the Tamil month of Thai (January 14 or 15). It is celebrated by boiling rice with fresh milk and jaggery in new clay pots. The rice is later topped with sugar, ghee, cashew nuts and raisins. This tradition gives Pongal its name.[6] The rice is traditionally cooked at sun rise.
The moment the milk boils over and bubbles out of the vessel, the tradition is to shout of "Pongalo Pongal!", introduce freshly harvested rice grains in the pot and blow the sanggu (a conch). Tamils consider it a good sign to watch the milk boil over as it connotes good luck and prosperity. The newly cooked rice is traditionally offered to the Sun God at sunrise to demonstrate gratitude for the harvest. It is later served to the people present in the house for the ceremony. People prepare savories and sweets such as vadai, murukku, paayasam, visit each other and exchange greetings.
Tamil Nadu - celebrated as Thai Pongal
Andhra Pradesh, Bengal, Kerala, Bihar, Goa, Karnataka, Orissa, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Manipur, Uttar Pradesh - celebrated as Makara Sankranthi
Gujarat and Rajasthan celebrated as Uttarayana
Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Punjab - celebrated as Lohri
Assam - celebrated as Magh Bihu or Bhogali Bihu
Nepal - celebrated as Maghe Sankranti or Makar Sankranti
Tamils draw kolams/rangolis on the door step, consume sugar cane, prepare sweetened rice, milk and jaggery in new earthen pots and dedicate it to Sun God. The family elders present gifts to the young. Elsewhere in India, there is kite flying in Gujarat and Andhra, the Jahangir Dance in Punjab and the Ganga Sagar Mela in Bengal. Millions of people immerse themselves in rivers in North India and offer prayers to the Sun God - Suryan. People offer thousands of their colorful oblations to the Sun in the form of beautiful kites.
The Sun stands for “Pratyaksha Brahman” - the manifest God, who symbolizes the one, non-dual, self-effulgent, glorious divinity blessing one and all tirelessly. The Sun is the one who transcends time and also the one who rotates the proverbial wheel of time.
Maatu Pongal
"Maatu pongal kolam"
Cattle play an important role in the traditional Indian farmstead be it with regards to the provision of dairy products, its use for ploughing and transport and its provision of fertilizer. This explains the Tamil reference to cattle as wealth. On the day after Pongal, cattle are felicitated. In rural Tamil Nadu, adventurous games such as the Jallikkattu or taming the wild bull are features of the day. Maattu Pongal is intended to demonstrate our recognition and affection to cattle and decorate them with garlands, apply kungumam (kumkum) on their foreheads and are feed with a mixture of venn pongal, jaggery,honey,banana and other fruits
Kanu Pidi is a tradition that the ladies and young girls of the house follow. Women feed birds and pray for the well being of their brothers. Women of the family place different kinds of coloured rice, cooked vegetables, banana and sweet pongal on a ginger or turmeric leaf and invite the crows, which descend in hordes to share and enjoy the "Kaka pidi, Kanu pidi" feast. Women offer prayers in the hope that the brother-sister ties may remain forever strong like the family of crows.
Maatu pongal is a festival celebrated together by the villagers to thank the cows for their favour in farming . People bath their cattles and paint their horns with colourful paints.In the evening people offer prayings to Lord Ganesh made out of mud and all the cattles of the village are gathered together and are decorated with garland, manjalthanni (turmeric water)only for cows,oil, shikakai,kumkum is applied on the forehead and fed with a mixture of venn pongal, Jaggery,honey,fruits etc.At the people torch out of coconut leaves and burn with fire and run around cattles thrice and run to the border of the village and drop their,this ritual is performed to remove all Drishti.
Kaanum Pongal
This is a time for family reunions in Tamil Nadu.Falling on the third day of the Pongal festivities,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. During Kaanum Pongal (the word kaanum means "to view"), people visit relatives and friends to enjoy the festive season. In the cities this day is synonymous with people flocking to beaches and theme parks to have a day out with their families. They also chew sugar cane and decorate their houses with kolam. This day is a day to thank relatives and friends for their support in the harvest. Although it started as a farmers festival, today it has become a national festival for all Tamils irrespective of their origins or even religion. It is as popular in urban areas as is in rural areas.This festival also marks the end of the Pongal festivities for the year.
In Andhra Pradesh, Mukkanuma, the final day of Sankranthi festival, is celebrated to worship cattle. Mukkanuma is famous among the non-vegetarians of the society. People do not eat any non-vegetarian dishes during the first three days of the festival and eat it only on the day of Mukkanuma.
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