Thai Pongal is celebrated on the first day within the month of Thai (Tamil calendar). The day normally falls between the 14th and 15th of the month of January in the Gregorian calendar. This year it falls on January, 14. Thai is the Month and Pongal is a sweet dish that consists of rice, moong dal, jaggery and milk. The entire Tamil population of the world celebrate without any differences. Therefore it is widely known as "Tamil Thai Pongal" or the "Festival of the Tamils".
The Tamil festival of Thai Pongal is a thanks giving ceremony in which the farmers celebrate the event to thank Mother Nature, the Sun and the farm animals for their assistance in providing a successful harvest.
The rest of the people celebrate the festival to pay tribute to the farmers for the production of food. Overall, it is a festival to encourage social cohesiveness and to unite people by bringing them together in a common function. There are many songs about Thai Pongal and there is much Tamil literature about it.
Customs & Celebrations
Thai Pongal generally includes customs & celebrations that are the expression of jubilation over life's renewal. In Tamil Nadu and other traditional homes worldwide, Thai Pongal commences early in the morning. Every member of the family gets up early in the morning, bathes, puts on new clothes and gathers in the front of the garden (muttram) to cook the traditional Pongal (rice pudding). The front garden is prepared in advance for this ceremonious cooking. A flat square pitch is made and decorated with kolam drawings, and is exposed to the direct sunlight.
A fire wood hearth is set up using three bricks. The cooking begins by putting a clay pot with water on the hearth.
A senior member of the family conducts the cooking and the rest of the family dutifully assists him or her or watches the event. When the water has boiled the rice is put into the pot - after a member of the family ceremoniously puts three handful of rice in first. The other ingredients of this special dish are chakkarai (brown cane sugar) or kalkandu (sugar candy), milk, roasted green gram (payaru), raisins, cashew nuts and a few pods of cardamom.
When the meal is ready it is first put on a banana leaf and the family pray for a few minutes to thank nature, the sun and farmers.
Then the meal (Pongal) is served with fruits (banana and mango) among the family. It is later shared with neighbours, friends and relatives. Although every household makes the food, sharing each others 'Pongal' is one of the important features of the event. Some Hindu scholars believe that the rice is ceremoniously cooked on the Thai Pongal day because of its importance as a potent symbol of auspiciousness and fertility. The evenings are spent attending cultural events or visiting relatives and friends.
Thanksgiving Day
The day of Thai Pongal is devoted to thanksgiving to cattle. The farmers pay great attention to the animals that have ploughed the fields and drawn the carts throughout the year. To show gratitude for this invaluable service, the animals are bathed and their horns are painted in red, blue, yellow and green. Their foreheads are smeared with turmeric and kumkum. Their necks are adorned with colourful garlands. Pooja is offered to them and Pongal is given in plenty. This is called Mattu Pongal.
Meaning & Significance
Thai Pongal is an occasion for family re-unions. Old enmities, personal animosities and rivalries are forgotten. Estrangements are healed and reconciliation effected.
Indeed, Thai Pongal is a festival of freedom, peace, unity and compassion crystallized in the last hymn on unity in the Indian spiritual text; The Rig Veda. Thus, love and peace are the central theme of Thai Pongal.
The festival is celebrated over four days. On, the first day, called Bhogi, old clothes and materials are given away, marking the beginning of a new life. The second day, the Pongal day, is celebrated by boiling fresh milk early in the morning and allowing it to boil over the vessel - a tradition that is the literal translation for Pongal (in Tamil). People also prepare savouries and sweets, visit each other's homes, and exchange greetings.
The third day, Mattu Pongal, is meant to offer thanks to the cows and buffaloes, as they are used to plough the lands. Jallikattu; a violent taming the bull contest, marks this day. On the last day, Kanum Pongal, people go out to picnic. During the Pongal season, people eat sugar cane and decorate their homes with Kolams(intricate floor patterns).
Even though Pongal was originally a festival for the farming community, today it is celebrated by all. Coinciding with Makara Sankranti and Lohri in the north, it is also called Pongal Sankranti and thus celebrated in some form in most parts of India and wherever people of Indian origin reside, including South Africa.
On behalf of the Pretoria Tamil League we extend our well wishes to all celebrating Thai Pongal and Sankranti and encourage people to celebrate this prayer at home at sunrise on the morning of 15th January at their homes.
- Submitted by Dr. Murthi Sooboo
Reference www.pongalfestival.org
