Happy Thai Pongal

Celebrating the bounties of mother nature with offerings to the Sun God:

By P. Krishnaswamy

The festive atmosphere, upto now redolent with holly and fur and all things Christmassy, was cranked up with a uniquely sub-continental flavour when the four-day Pongal harvest festival, more popularly known as 'Thai Pongal', was celebrated in Sri Lanka, India and across the world last week.

Called 'Thai Pongal' because the festival is observed in the first four days in the month of 'Thai' in the Tamil-Hindu calendar, the main festival, with offerings to the 'Sun God' was celebrated on Friday, January 15.

A harvest festival traditionally celebrated by the farmers who depend on mother earth, the sun, the rain, other natural elements, the cows and the buffaloes for a bountiful harvest of their staple food, rice, it is now one of the most important festivals celebrated by the Tamils across the world. A great unifier, it sees the poor and the rich, the villager and the city dweller, cast, class and rank forgotten, offering thanks to the gods, and worshiping the sun, the earth, the cattle and their bounty with devotion.

In Sri Lanka, Thai Pongal is celebrated in the North, the East and the central hill country and in all areas where there is a concentration of Tamil or Hindu families. The festival this time around is deemed very significant to the people in the North and East, in that it is one year since the UNF Government with President Maithripala Sirisena and PM Ranil Wickremesinghe at the helm was established with their overwhelming support, secured with the promise of a lasting and viable resolution to the Tamil issue.

The Legend As with all traditions, there are several legends associated with Pongal celebrations. Two of the most popular legends are related to Lord Shiva and Lord Indra. According to on legend, once Shiva asked his bull, Basava, to go to the earth and ask the mortals to have an oil massage and bath every day and to eat once a month. Inadvertently, Basava announced that everyone should eat daily and have an oil bath once a month. This mistake enraged Shiva, who then cursed Basava, banishing him to live on earth forever, ploughing the fields and helping people produce more food. Thus, the association of this day with cattle. Another legend that concerns Lord Indra and Lord Krishna, claim that when Lord Krishna was in his childhood, he decided to teach a lesson to Lord Indra, who became arrogant after becoming the king of all deities. Lord Krishna asked all the cowherds to stop worshiping Lord Indra. This angered Lord Indra, who sent forth his clouds for thunder-storms and three days of continuous rains. Lord Krishna lifted Mount Govardhan to save all the humans. According to Hindu mythology, this is when the day of the gods begins, after a six-month long night. The festival is spread over three days and is the most important and most fervently-celebrated harvest festival of South India. A special pooja is performed on the first day of Pongal before the cutting of the paddy. Farmers worship the sun and the earth by anointing their ploughs and sickles with sandal wood paste. It is with these consecrated tools that the newly-harvested rice is cut. The origins of the Thai Pongal festival may date to more than 1000 years ago. Epigraphic evidence suggests the celebration of 'Puthiyeedu' during Medieval Chola empire days. Puthiyeedu is believed to represent the first harvest of the year.

The past year has seen a lot of positive changes in the North and East, giving the Tamils a renewed sense of confidence, and a spring to their step as the townships bustle with life. It is in such an environment of hope and optimism, Thai Pongal is being celebrated this year.

New replacing the old

On the festival days, the houses are cleaned, painted and decorated. People wear new clothes and cattle are gaily caparisoned with beads, bells and flowers and their horns painted and capped with gleaming metals. There, as a tradition, the first day of Pongal is marked by feasting and merry-making, with the new replacing the old, including old worries.

Huge bonfires are lit and everything that unwanted around the house is consigned to the flames. In the olden days all old clay utensils were ritually broken and potters were asked to supply a fresh stock. With the advent of plastic and steel, sadly this ritual only has a symbolic relevance today.

Pongal is the only festival of the Tamil that follows a solar calendar and is celebrated in mid January. Pongal also has astronomical significance as it marks the beginning of Uttarayana, the Sun's movement northward for a six-month period.

In Hinduism, Uttarayana is considered auspicious, as opposed to Dakshinaayana, or the southern movement of the sun. All important events are scheduled during this period. Makara Sankuranthi refers to the event of the Sun entering the zodiac sign of Makara or Capricorn. House to house bajan processions are held beginning from the lean hours of the morning and special 'Margazhy' and 'Thiruvembavai' poojas are performed in temples in the month of 'Margazhy', the cold month preceding 'Thai'.

Colourful Kolam

Throughout the month, the front yard and entrance of every Tamil house is decorated with the 'Kolam' in colourful designs. Symbolising happiness and prosperity, Kolam, a form of drawing using coloured rice flour/chalk/chalk powder, is more than just an aesthetic artwork. Insects and birds feed on the rice flour, which is often used for the drawings in Sri Lanka, reflecting the inclusivity of man and nature and the former's concern for all living creatures.

The month of 'Thai' is a very auspicious period to begin new ventures after the gloomy period of 'Margazhy'. There is a Tamil saying 'Thai Poranthal Vazhy Porakkum', meaning that with the dawn of the month, a path for prosperity and happiness will be paved.

Pongal signals the end of the traditional farming season, giving farmers a break from their routine back breaking work. Thankful to the bounty provided by mother earth, they perform pooja to the crops bringing the traditional farming season to a close and setting in motion the series of festivals to follow in a calendar year. Pongal is the day when the pot of milk and rice must boil over to be deemed auspicious. On Pongal day, long before sunrise, the women of the house draw intricate patterns of kolam outside their doors. Within the perimeters of kolam, typically, firewood is used to cook the rice. This is the called the 'Surya Pongal', meaning the Pongal for the Sun God.

In Sri Lanka, only this and the following day's 'Mattu Pongal' or Pongal for the cattle are celebrated, with the Pongal set up in the direct view of the Sun (East).

The pealing of bells in Hindu temples, drums, clarinets and conch shells herald the joyous occasion of Pongal. To symbolise a bountiful harvest, rice is cooked in new pots until they boil over. Some of the rituals performed in the temple include the preparation of rice, the chanting of prayers and the offering of vegetables, sugar cane and spices to the gods. Devotees then consume the offerings to exonerate themselves of past sins.

Pongalo Pongal

The ritual of cooking of rice and milk is done in the open in the fields by farmers and in the court yards and lawns of homes in the cities and villages, at a pre-determined auspicious hour.

The cooking area is decorated with flowers, sugar canes, plantain trees, buntings of flower garlands and rice paste. Even the cooking pots are decorated, their necks with freshly harvested turmeric or mango leaves.

The boiling over of the contents is the auspicious sign the family waits for. And the women folk make a strange sound special to this occasion, intoning "Pongalo, Pongal" in high pitched voices. This is an offering to the Sun God and Mother Earth.

The cooked preparation also called Pongal (made of new rice, milk and newly made jaggery) is offered to the gods along with preparations of vegetables and lentils, newly harvested sugar cane and bananas. Later the family sits down to a ritual meal. Besides rice and milk, the ingredients of the 'Pongal' sweet dish include cardamom, jaggery, raisins, green gram (split) and cashew nuts. Cooking is done in sunlight, usually in a porch or courtyard, as the dish is dedicated to the Sun God, Surya. The cooking utensil is clay pot decorated with Kolam.

Pongal has two variants, one sweet and one savoury. Both pongals are served on banana leaves.

The second day of festival is called 'Mattu Pongal' and is dedicated to the cattle, which has and continues to play an important role in farming. 'Mattu Pongal' is celebrated as a day when the cattle are worshipped and treated like kings. They bathed their horns painted in bright hues, fed on the best of feeds and taken to the village centre where the devotees offer flower garlands and other offerings.

A festival called 'Jalli Kattu,' or bull fighting, is held in many places in Tamil Nadu. A type of taming or controlling the savage bull for a reward for heroism, the sport is popular among the young men. Bundles of cash are tied to the horns of ferocious Pongal bulls. The aim is for the villagers to retrieve the money from the bulls.

Everyone joins in the community meal, which comprises mainly dishes made of the freshly harvested grain.