Pongal simply described as Harvest festival. This is mainly celebrated for thanking the Sun God. This celebration will take place for 4 days. According to tradition, the festival is at the end of winter and the beginning of the summer season. The festival is named after the ceremonial “Pongal”, which means “to boil, overflow” and refers to the traditional dish prepared from the new harvest of rice boiled in milk with jaggery (raw sugar). To mark the festival, the pongal dish is prepared, first offered to the gods and goddesses, including Surya.
The history of the Pongal dish in the festive can be traced back to the Chola period. It appears in numerous texts and inscriptions with variant spellings. In early records, it appears as ponakam, tiruponakam, ponkal and similar terms. Some of the major temple inscriptions from Chola Dynasty to Vijayanagara Empire periods include detailed recipes which are essentially the same as the pongal recipes.
Bhogi
The Pongal festival begins on the day called Bhogi, and it marks the last day of the Tamil month Marghali. On this day people discard old belongings and celebrate new possessions. The people assemble and light a bonfire in order to burn the old household things. During the time of burning people have instruments made from skin of animals (nowadays it has become plastic) and make sound from it in order to celebrate the festival. Houses are cleaned the next day, painted and decorated to give a festive look. New clothes are worn to mark the start of the festival.
Pongal
The second day is called Suryan Pongal or Perum Pongal, the main festive day, and is dedicated to the sun god. It is the first day of the Tamil calendar month Thai. 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. As the dish begins to boil and overflow out of the vessel, one or more participants blow sanggu while others shout with joy “Pongalo Pongal“!. 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. Homes are decorated 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 kolam.
Mattu Pongal
Mattu Pongal is celebrated the day after Surya Pongal. Mattu refers to “cow, bullock, cattle”, and Tamil people irrespective of religion, regard cattle as sources of wealth for providing dairy products, fertilizer, transportation and agricultural aid. On Mattu Pongal, cattle are decorated with flowers and painted horns, they are offered bananas, a special meal and worshipped. Feed them a mixture of venn pongal, jaggery, honey, banana and other fruits.
In cities, the day marks the ritual visit to nearby temples and prayers there. Temples and communities hold processions by parading icons from the sanctum of the temple in wooden chariots, drama-dance performances encouraging social gatherings and renewal of community bonds.[41] Other events during Pongal include community sports and games such as cattle races, the Jallikattu.
Kanum Pongal
On this day people wear Festive dress, dance events and community processions for Pongal.
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 (kanum) 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. Relatives, friends and neighbors visit to greet, while youngsters go out to meet seniors among the relatives and neighborhoods to pay respects and seek blessings, while some elders give the visiting children some pocket change as a gift.
This is our tradition I have explained a few only but there is much more. I welcome all my friends around the world to visit our villages in tamilnadu to enjoy this
TAMILGEO 