PONGAL

Pongal is the biggest harvest festival for the people of Tamil Nadu. People belonging to Hindu faith observe this festival to please the Sun God who has been so kind to them. Pongal Festival is celebrated around 14th January every day. People eagerly wait for this day to offer cooked rice to the God on the Pongal day. 

Pongal is a harvest festival. It is the most important festival of Tamil Nadu. The season has made the people busy in the rural Tamil Nadu. Men, women, children all would go to the fields to reap the harvest. Since rice is to be offered to God how it can be cooked in the kitchen inside the house. In the courtyard or some other open space to let God to see how enthusiastic the people are to make him offerings. The paddy fields looks like the waves of a green sea.  The heart of the farmer is filled up with joy. With this have mellowed the generous hearts of the people to Tamil Nadu. Sun God is just ready to have a bit of change in his course bending a little to the North. Winter is just over and harvest season has set in. 

 A couple of days before the festive occasion ladies would clean and decorate the whole house with festoons. They would decorate the big earthen vessel too with kumkum and swastika. The eldest or the youngest member of the family is called to fill the pit with rice and water. The Pongal (cooked rice) is to be prepared for appearing to the God some milk must be added to the water in the vessel. But the people who participate in the process of cooking have to the careful. They have not to tread over the beautiful rangoli that has been designed around the heart. It is Pongal morning, young and old all have taken both in rivers lakes and even on wells in the villages. A happy day for children. They have news clothes. As the evening approaches, people meet to eat the rice together. The rice is distributed among the rich and the poor alike. A little tired they would go to bed dreaming of the festivities of the day.

Surya Pongal is the second and main festive day, and is dedicated to the Hindu god Surya. It is the first day of the Tamil calendar month Tai, and coincides with Makara Sankranthi – a winter harvest festival celebrated throughout India. The day marks the start of the Uttarayana, when the sun enters the 10th house of the zodiac Makara (Capricorn). The day is celebrated with family and friends, with the Pongal dish prepared in a traditional earthen pot in an open space in the view of the sun. The pot is typically decorated by tying a turmeric plant or flower garland, and near the cooking stove are placed two or more tall fresh sugarcane stalks. The pongal dish is traditionally prepared by boiling milk, in a group setting. When it starts to bubble, freshly harvested rice grains and cane sugar are added to the pot. As the dish begins to boil and overflow out of the vessel, one or more participants blow a conch called the sanggu while others shout with joy "Pongalo Pongal"! – lit. "may this rice boil over". This is symbolism for the shared wish of greater fortunes in the year ahead. In rural settings, the gathered women or neighbors sing "kuruvai trills" (traditional songs) while the pongal dish is cooking. The dish is offered to the gods and goddesses, sometimes to the village cows, and then shared by the community. Men traditionally offer prayers to the sun with the ''vanakkam'' posture in open, and then proceed to eat their meal. According to James Lochtefeld, the Pongal dish is first offered to Surya and Ganesha, and then shared with the gathered friends and family. Tamil Hindus decorate their homes with banana and mango leaves and embellish the entrance space before homes, corridors or doors with decorative floral, festive or geometric patterns drawn using colored rice flour. These are called kolams.

The Pongal festival begins on the day called Bhogi Pongal, and it marks the last day of the Tamil month Marghazi. On this day people discard old belongings and celebrate new possessions. The people assemble and light a bonfire in order to burn the heaps of discards. Houses are cleaned, painted and decorated to give a festive look. The horns of oxen and buffaloes are painted in villages. New clothes are worn to mark the start of the festival. The deity of the day is Indra – the god of rains, to whom prayers are offered, with thanks and hopes for plentiful rains in the year ahead. Bhogi is also observed on the same day in Karnataka and 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.

Mattu Pongal is celebrated the day after Surya Pongal. Mattu refers to "cow, bullock, cattle", and Tamil Hindus regard cattle as sources of wealth for providing dairy products, fertilizer, transportation and agricultural aid. On Mattu Pongal, cattle are decorated – sometimes with flower garlands or painted horns, they are offered bananas, a special meal and worshipped. Some decorate their cows with manjalthanni (turmeric water) and oil. 

Kanum Pongal, sometimes called the Kanu Pongal, the fourth day of the festival, marks the end of Pongal festivities for the year. The word kanum (kaanum) in this context means "to visit." Many families hold reunions on this day. Communities organize social events to strengthen mutual bonds. Villagers cut and consume farm fresh sugarcane during social gatherings. 

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