PONGAL FESTIVAL
Pongal is the Tamil version of a specifically Tamil (South Indian) mode of celebrating the winter solstice. Unlike other Hindus festivals which are generally devoted to one or another of divine manifestations, Pongal has an astronomical and seasonal significance: the arrival of the sun to the vernal equinox in its northward journey.
The apparent passage of the sun from the southern to the northern hemisphere is called uttarāyana: northern movement. The reverse passage from the north to the south is the dakhiṇāyaṇa or southern movement. Makara samkranti is the first day of the sun’s northward journey with the sun on the Tropic of Capricorn. Hindu reckoning, based on a more ancient system, takes this to be around the middle of January. That is why the festival is celebrated at this time of the year.
Unless the Sun turns back northwards, it will get colder in the northern hemisphere. So one is thankful when the Sun begins this journey. In Tamil, the literal meaning of pongal is to boil. Pongal is also the name of a delicacy made by boiling rice with milk and lentils. The third meaning is the festival when one makes pongal on this day. A standard greeting on this day is: pongiyachchaa, (Did it boil?). The reference is to the milk. This is taken as an auspicious sign. More precisely, the festival is known as Thai Pongal: Thai being the name of the month whose first day is the Pongal festival.
Many practices have evolved in the Tamil tradition for the celebration of the Pongal festival. Early in the morning, a ceremonial bath is taken, after which people put on new clothes. In classical times, one would gather in a porch and cook the lentil-rice pongal. It has two varieties: one sweetened and the other salty. This used to be done ceremoniously in a clay pot at a spot which was decorated with colored patterns, called kolams. The oldest member of the family was expected to start the cooking, usually assisted by others.
The ingredients for pongal include brown sugar, cardamom and cashew nuts. The cooking is usually done in sunlight because the festival honors the Sun God. The meal is served on banana leaves which are later given to the cows as food. With changing times, some of the traditional modes have been disappearing.
In olden times workers in the fields used to carry sugar cane and freshly harvested paddy with coconuts and plantains to their landlords. Nowadays such offerings are made only to the gods at home. Brothers give gifts to sisters. In the countryside where there are cowsheds attached to homes, the horns of the cattle are adorned, cows are fed sugarcane and banana leaves, and escorted to the river or the local tank for a special drink. We must remember that harvest and agriculture have always gone hand in hand with cattle in ancient cultures. During the day there are visits to and from friends, and in the evening there are cultural programs.
On the day after Pongal, in some parts of Tamil Nadu – in the regions of Cauvery and Vaigai – there were bull fights in the Tamil style, called Jallikootthu. Adorned bulls with bells around their necks are provoked and let loose in an open meadow where they are subdued by sturdy young men, to the applause of an admiring audience that includes young women. This event is described in a famous Tamil novel called Kamalambal Caritram by Rajam Iyer.
Like all festivals, Pongal is a joyous event. It welcomes the Spring which is also harvest time in that part of the world.
Spurts of Thought 