Pongal By Navaneetham

Tamils¹ all over the world celebrate the harvest festival of PONGAL during the month of January. Pongal² is a four-day festival traditionally celebrated in the southeastern part of India and in Sri Lanka. This festival pays tributes to the Sun and to the cattle that help farmers in their livelihood. Owing to cultural diversity within the Tamil community, each day of the festival comes with its own flavor in each region of the contemporary Tamil heartland! After the hectic northeast monsoon rains in the southern part of India, crops are ready for harvest by January. Sunny skies and anticipation of a bountiful harvest keep peasants in a right mood to indulge in a long celebration.

The first day of the celebration is Bohi³, which falls on the last day of the month of Margazhi as per Tamil calendar. Tidying up homes is a typical practice on this day in most places. This day is also an occasion for parents to send gifts, called Varisai, to the households of their married daughters. These gifts are usually in the form of farm products such as rice, sugarcane, turmeric, coconut, ripened banana etc. However, sending gifts in the form of money is also not uncommon these days!

The next day, the primary day of the festivities, called Pongal², falls on the first day of the auspicious month of Thai in Tamil calendar⁴, This in fact is a thanksgiving day for the Sun. Though the entire family participates, women and children play an active role in it. In the countryside, in the morning, people set up makeshift clay stoves outside their homes, usually in the main entrance area. The stove and its immediate surroundings are decorated with drawings called Kolams, done using dry rice flour. Using new terracotta vessels, sweetened rice (from fresh harvest, sweetened with jaggery, milk and raisins) is cooked on these stoves. The Sun, whose day it is, directly looks down upon the event gracefully. After sweetened rice preparation, along with other special items for the day, primary of which is karumbu (sugarcane), a Padayal or offering is made to Sun. Later, the entire family enjoys the feast. Children particularly like the sweetened rice, which is not part of every day menu!

The following day is Maattupongal⁵, thanksgiving day for the cattle. Men and women have distinct roles to play on this day. As opposed to the previous day, Mattupongal has the distinction of being a community celebration, with several households or clans coming together in some open area near their houses, in the evening. Cows and bulls are given a bath, their horns are painted colorfully, necks are decorated with garlands and they are particularly fed well with fresh green grass instead of routine hay! In the mean time women, particularly young girls decorate the floors of their homes with drawings made out of watery rice flour (MaaKolam). Decorated cattle are brought to the open area where the men assemble and made to stand in order. Simultaneously, men dig-up large cooking spots in the ground. Large metal vessels are used to cook rice that had been collected from participating households. Cooked rice is spread on plantain leaves placed on temporary mounds and strewn with jaggery, grated coconut and crushed ripened banana. This again is a form of sweetened rice. After a Padayal, cattle are given symbolic ‘oil bath’ and symbolic ‘feeding’ with this rice preparation. Then the entire community shares the food. In many places women and very young children are kept off the event, perhaps in view of large gatherings of cattle to avoid any mishaps.

The last day of the celebration is very diverse and is called by various names, such as Kannupongal, Kannipongal, Kaanumpongal etc. Sporting activity is the hallmark of this day. Particularly groomed bulls are put into action on this day and young men try to overwhelm the bulls in their attempt to fetch the bounty that goes to the winner. Jallikkattu and Manjuvirattu are two forms this sport. Coconut fight, in which one person tries to crack open his opponents’ husked coconut are also common. Apart from these traditional games, various other kinds of games are also in vogue for children and girls. In urban areas, on this day, younger members of families visit their elders to exchange pleasantries.

Harvest festival is celebrated in different parts of India, though they are called by different names in different regions, Sankaranthi (Sankranti), Bhoghi, to name a few. Pongal celebration is one such 'cultural' festival, celebrated by Tamils living around the world. As Indians, Tamils have a myriad of functions to celebrate, but perhaps Pongal is the only festival Tamils have for themselves to connect with their Tamil cultural roots⁶.