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| Gnanathanappan Ramachandran | profile | all galleries >> India >> States & Union Territories >> Tamil Nadu >> Pongal | tree view | thumbnails | slideshow |
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Pongal also know as Thai Pongal, is a harvest festival celebrated by Tamils. Pongal means "boiling over", the boiling over of milk in an earthern pot symbolizes abundance and good fortune. Pongal is dedicated to the Sun God and is celebrated to thank the Sun God and livestock that helped achieve success in harvest. The first day of the festival (the last day of the Tamil month Marghazhi) is celebrated as "Bhogi", where the old and unwanted things are discarded to symbolise the beginning of new and prosperous things in life to begin with the first day of the new month Thai. The first day of the month Thai, is celebrated as "Thai Pongal", when pongal is cooked by boiling fresh milk with the newly harvested rice and jaggery. This tradition gives the name for the festival and also for the dish so made its name Pongal. The third day of the festival is dedicated to the livestock and is named "Maatu Pongal" and is celebrated to thank the cattle. On this day, in some parts of Tamil Nadu, an adventurous game called "Jallikattu" a form of bull fight is organised. Alanganallur, a small village near the town of Madurai in Tamil Nadu is very famous for this event. Unlike the spanish version, here the bull is not attacked / killed. The fighters try to tame / control the bull with no weapon but, with their bare hands like in a wrestling bout. This is a real man vs beast game and I consider this to show case man's bravery more compared to the spanish version. Though I don't have any pictures to share of this game, I'll try and add some in the years to come. You can catch the excitement of this game depicted fabulously by a Belgian (I assume) Pbase user with a derived name Oochappan. The last day of the festival is celebrated as "Kaanum Pongal", when people visit family and friends. During the festival days, people decorate the entrance to their home with grand and spectacular designs called "Kolam". | ||
 Bhogi day - old things being burnt |
 Bhogi day |
 Bhogi day - Kolam |
 Bhogi day - Kolam |
 Bhogi day - Kolam |
 My harvest at home |
 A lady selling earthern pots for Pongal |
 Lighting the stove on Pongal Day |
 Manning the stove |
 Offergings prepared for the Sun God |
 The moment of boiling over.. |
 Adding rice and lentils. |
 Pongal being cooked |
 Rice being added to the boiling over Milk |
 Cooked and ready to be taken off |
 Pongal is also placed as an offering |
 Sweet pongal cooked and ready to be taken off.. |
 Puja to the Sun God |
 Pongal offerings to the Sun God |
 Offerings to the Sun God |
 Puja to the Sun God |
 Puja to the Sun God |
 Offering the food to the Crows |
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