"Ponggalo Pongal" – Indian Thanksgiving Celebration

Pulse

oi-Staff

By Super

Tuesday, January 8, 2013, 10:43

Pongal is the harvest festival celebrated by Tamilians across the globe and falls on January 14th of every year. The festival coincides with Makara Sankranti which is also celebrated throughout the nation during this time. Pongal in Tamil means "boiling over" so on this festive day the milk is boiled in a clay pot and is celebrated once the boiling milk spills over to symbolize the abundance of materials in the house. Makara Sankranti is celebrated as the Sun enters the zodiac sign makara and the event is considered very auspicious for Hindus.

Pongal is a four day celebration starting with the Bhogi festival involving burning of waste and old materials marking the beginning of new life. The second day is the Pongal day where the milk is boiled in a pot to celebrate the harvest. The third is mattu pongal celebration where the cows are decorated and thanked for the harvest. The last day is called Kanum Pongal celebration where people go out on picnic to enjoy with the family.

Apart from Pongal celebrations, cooking pongal rice is also an important part of the festival. All temples will be decorated with colorful fresh flowers as part of the pongal celebrations and the tasty pongal rice will be offered to the god and served as prasadam to all devotees present.