Pongal O' Pongal

(image from the Pongal restaurant web-page at pongal dot org)

Pongal - literally translates to "boiling over" as in boiling over in thankfullness, joy, celebration, a joie-de-vivre if you will. It is a celebration of the harvest, and also of the elements of nature that helped sustain the harvest, and the farm animals that helped sow the fields. Simply, it is an elegant, charming celebration of nature and our part in it. January 14 of the Gregorian calendar marked this year's celebration of the harvest in Tamil Nadu in southern India.

The first day of the month of "Thai" (rhymes with why) marks the transit of the Sun from the sign of Saggitarius to the sign of Capricorn. In southern India, it coincides with the withdrawal of the monsoons, and the ripening and eventual harvest of the fields. Plus, this also marks the end of the (brief) chilly period that is heralded by the previous month of Margazhi. Ergo, it also means a favourable disposition from the Sun. What better way to celebrate all of the above, than to indulge in it?
Traditionally the festival spreads over three days.

The first day of the festival is actually the last day of the previous month (Margazhi). Bhogi (or bhogi pongal) is the day that heralds the ushering out of the old. Its the day the house is cleaned out, and items discarded into a bonfire. If the harvest has not yet been collected, this day also marks the finishing of reaping. Kolams (or Rangolis) adorn the fronts of homes, adding to the colourful nature of the festival.

Day 2 (also the first day of the new month of Thai) is the day of offering to the Sun and the elements. This is what makes the festival of Pongal a naturally charming festival - celebrating the Sun and Earth for their bounty in the crop, the elements for their cooperation in helping create and sustain the bounty they've just harvested. Naturally, this festival is an outdoor festival. Feasts are prepared in open wood-flame stoves in earthen pots with ingredients that are the traditional part of the harvest of the season - rice, lentils and sugarcane, along with spices like turmeric and ginger, and other crops. These earthen pots are colorfully adorned too, in keeping with the spirit of the season. (See image at top).

Finally, no traditional farmer was complete without his/her own cattle to drive the ploughs. And no farmer can celebrate their harvest without celebrating their farm animals (most notably the cattle that did and still do drive the ploughs of the farmers). This marks Day 3 or Maattu Pongal. The cattle get a well-deserved cleaning, and are decorated up and paraded around the village square. For the women in the households, this also marks what is referred to as Kaanum Pongal - food is offered as rolled balls to the birds and smaller animals of the farm - each of which in their own way contributed to the success of the harvest. This is a day of revelry, fun and frolic. And this also overflows in the following day, and in many places this is considered as the fourth day of Pongal, though in all actuality, the only thing about this day is the farmers get to spend it on their own with their families.

Bawarchi has a fantastic write-up on Pongal, (including excellent material on the antecedants of the various traditions). That article is also a source for part of the material authored above. Another good source is the "About" write up on the festival.

May the bounty of Pongal smile into the hearts, minds and homes of every man, woman and child. May the blessings of the Sun smile its way into and warm every home and hearth of this Earth.