Pongal is the harvest festival celebrated in Tamil Nadu and is one of the most popular celebrations like Diwali. It falls on the first day of the tamil month "Thai"(mid of January to mid of February). The same is celebrated as "Makara Sankranthi" across other parts of India. This day marks the beginning of Uttaraayanam - which is the sun's journey towards the north and it is for a period of 6 months. Hence this festival is also meant to thank the sun god for the agricultural harvest.
Pongal is not just a 1 day celebration. It spans across a period of 4 days. I have explained below few important information about how each of these days is celebrated in Tamil Nadu.
The day before pongal is celebrated as "Bhogi", which is meant for discarding old possessions and focus on new beginnings. In earlier days people discarded unwanted things by burning out in fire on this day. But nowadays due to pollution control measures, these procedures have been widely banned. People paint their homes before the pongal festival. There is no special pooja or festival procedure done on this day. In our homes, we make poli and paruppu vadai on this day.
On the day of pongal, decorative kolams are drawn in front of the houses. Not only on this day, the entire month of Marghazi (the month before pongal), people wake up early in the morning and draw big kolams in front of their houses.
The main dishes prepared on the day of pongal are ven pongal and sakkarai pongal. In many places, people make it in the outdoors using earthern clay pots(man paanai) on firewood. Nowadays we use brass pot(vengala paanai) as an alternate to use in gas stove. The pot used on this day is decorated well and tied with turmeric leaves. In this traditional method, milk is boiled in the pot and when it starts boiling we say "pongalo pongal" together with the family. Rice is then added to this and made as ven pongal and sakkarai pongal. Along with this, an elaborate meal(no onion no garlic) with payasam and vadai are prepared.
Sugarcane is available in abundant during this celebration and this is also kept as part of the offering to the god. People do special pooja on this day and offer neivedhyam to god.
The 3rd day is "maatu pongal", a celebration meant for the cattle as it plays a key role in the agriculture. On this day, cattle are washed, painted and decorated. Prayers are offered to the cattle and this day is also meant for games like jallikattu(sport meant for taming of bulls).
In many families, this day is observed as "kanu". This is celebrated by ladies in the family, who offer prayers for the well being of their brothers. As part of this tradition, we store some leftovers of the pongal day - ven pongal, sakkarai pongal and curd rice. Along with these, small pieces of sugarcane, rice mixed with kumkum and rice mixed with turmeric powder are kept ready. All ladies and young girls at home wake up in the morning and perform this custom before having bath.
The elderly woman at home will use turmeric stick and mark in the forehead of all ladies. The ladies then go to the terrace or any outdoor space. Odd number of kolams (one for each person and an extra kolam if required, to make it as odd number) are drawn on the floor facing east-west direction and turmeric leaves (leaf from the manjal kothu) will be kept on each kolam. Then each woman keeps a small quantity of the rice varieties in their leaf - ven pongal, sakkarai pongal, curd rice, rice mixed with kumkum and rice mixed with turmeric powder. Along with these, small sugarcane pieces are also placed.
While placing these items, we usually recite the following line:
"Kaaka pidi vachen, kanu pidi vachen; kaakkakellam kalyanam, kuruvikellam kondattam"
The above phrase differs from family to family and is recited as a prayer for unity in the family.
We then shown aarathi facing towards the sun god. The food kept in the leaves are meant to be eaten by birds. Like "Karadaiyan Nombu", the custom of kanu has to be followed even if other festivals are not celebrated in the year for some reasons.
On this day, in our families we make variety rice along with pappad and aviyal.
This is the fourth day of the festival. This day is usually spent outdoors and people usually visit beaches, theme parks and other places along with family members on this day.
Listed below are some of the most commonly prepared dishes for this festival, as posted in my blog:
This year the pongal festival is on Sunday, 14th of January 2018.
WISHING ALL OF YOU A VERY VERY HAPPY PONGAL !!
Pongal is not just a 1 day celebration. It spans across a period of 4 days. I have explained below few important information about how each of these days is celebrated in Tamil Nadu.
Bhogi
The day before pongal is celebrated as "Bhogi", which is meant for discarding old possessions and focus on new beginnings. In earlier days people discarded unwanted things by burning out in fire on this day. But nowadays due to pollution control measures, these procedures have been widely banned. People paint their homes before the pongal festival. There is no special pooja or festival procedure done on this day. In our homes, we make poli and paruppu vadai on this day.
Pongal
On the day of pongal, decorative kolams are drawn in front of the houses. Not only on this day, the entire month of Marghazi (the month before pongal), people wake up early in the morning and draw big kolams in front of their houses.
The main dishes prepared on the day of pongal are ven pongal and sakkarai pongal. In many places, people make it in the outdoors using earthern clay pots(man paanai) on firewood. Nowadays we use brass pot(vengala paanai) as an alternate to use in gas stove. The pot used on this day is decorated well and tied with turmeric leaves. In this traditional method, milk is boiled in the pot and when it starts boiling we say "pongalo pongal" together with the family. Rice is then added to this and made as ven pongal and sakkarai pongal. Along with this, an elaborate meal(no onion no garlic) with payasam and vadai are prepared.
Sugarcane is available in abundant during this celebration and this is also kept as part of the offering to the god. People do special pooja on this day and offer neivedhyam to god.
(Image source - drikpanchangam.com)
Maatu Pongal and Kanu
The 3rd day is "maatu pongal", a celebration meant for the cattle as it plays a key role in the agriculture. On this day, cattle are washed, painted and decorated. Prayers are offered to the cattle and this day is also meant for games like jallikattu(sport meant for taming of bulls).
(Image source - Hahaquotes.com)
The elderly woman at home will use turmeric stick and mark in the forehead of all ladies. The ladies then go to the terrace or any outdoor space. Odd number of kolams (one for each person and an extra kolam if required, to make it as odd number) are drawn on the floor facing east-west direction and turmeric leaves (leaf from the manjal kothu) will be kept on each kolam. Then each woman keeps a small quantity of the rice varieties in their leaf - ven pongal, sakkarai pongal, curd rice, rice mixed with kumkum and rice mixed with turmeric powder. Along with these, small sugarcane pieces are also placed.
While placing these items, we usually recite the following line:
"Kaaka pidi vachen, kanu pidi vachen; kaakkakellam kalyanam, kuruvikellam kondattam"
The above phrase differs from family to family and is recited as a prayer for unity in the family.
We then shown aarathi facing towards the sun god. The food kept in the leaves are meant to be eaten by birds. Like "Karadaiyan Nombu", the custom of kanu has to be followed even if other festivals are not celebrated in the year for some reasons.
On this day, in our families we make variety rice along with pappad and aviyal.
Kaanum Pongal/Thiruvalluvar Day
This is the fourth day of the festival. This day is usually spent outdoors and people usually visit beaches, theme parks and other places along with family members on this day.
Also this day is celebrated as "Thiruvalluvar Day" as a mark of respect for the great Tamil poet Thiruvalluvar, who contributed the famous work "Thirukkural".
Kolams
Given below are few kolam designs which can be drawn for this festival.
For more traditional padi kolams and decorative designs, check the below link of my kolam blog.
http://subaskolams.blogspot.com
Recipes
Interesting blog...great work...please try to add some photos of the festival to make it even more interesting.
ReplyDeleteThank you Kalyanj for your feedback. Will definitely update more pictures in the future. Keep visiting
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