The oncoming harvest festival has brought me back the memories of the celebrations of my good old chennai life.
The state gears up
a week before the festival day with everyone doing a special cleaning episode in their house
, discarding the unwanted old things (the practice actually meant giving away all bad things in our life and grasp good ones and also those days
artisans and potters earned (Still so) their
livelihood and this festival is just to help those economically backward people), some paint their
house new.
The previous day is celebrated as "Bhogi" where a bornfire is made, children run around the bornfire with a small damaru like percussion instrument in hand, hitting it with a stick which makes a drumming noise. Some make a sweet called Poli.
The entire market place will be so congested and crowded with loads and loads of sugarcane bunches,
turmeric plants, small plantain saplings dumped here and there, the damaru for bogi,
children accompanied by their fathers busy shopping for this harvest festival in their own city dweller way.
Making the pongal in cooker or in a vessel on
gas stove and offer it virtually to the sun god. In the villages, it is made in a new earthern pot, when it is cooked, people add milk and when it boils and overflows, they say loudly "Pongal-o-pongal" in chorus, thus celebrating the prosperity with family and some with community celebrations.
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| Image courtesy : google search |
When I was in
high school, one pongal day it was very cloudy and we could not see the Sun God, immediately I drew the
sun God picture in his chariot drawn by 7 horses with the sarathi Aruna and that pongal we offered to the God in the picture and I preserved it till now and take him out once in a year for the pooja on this special day of 'sankaranthi'/Pongal.
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| Surya bhagwan on his chariot drawn by Aruna - drawn & painted by me |
In "Aditya Hrudaya Stotram", it says "Rutu Kartha Prabhakara" meaning the one who is responsible for the seasons. This is very important for the living beings to thrive. So the Pongal festival is a thanks giving to the Sun God who is essentil for life on this earth.
Gomatha nourishes us right from our childhood days in various forms in our daily life viz., Milk, Curd, Butter, Ghee and the panchagavya!
The Bullocks that helps in ploughing in Traditional farming and also draws heavy carts. They all are recognised more and thus a thanksgiving day called "Maatu pongal" is celebrated the next of Pongal.
The poor cows which are exploited by the local milk men & the bulls otherwise.....which have only bones & skin left..
undernourished....
will get a nice breakfast reward on the maatu pongal day as the day is for worshipping cows & bulls which helps the mankind toiling & troubling themselves. (See how clever
our ancestors are! they predicted everything and brought these practice in our culture!) These poor animals sees green grass mainly on this day (other days they have lots of film posters to chew & scavenge on the garbage as they are let loose to find their own food on the streets....)
The horns of the Bullocks are colourfully painted. Balloon and Ribbons are tied on the horns and beautifully decorated. They are then tied to the carts and people ride on those decorated bullock carts which is a feast to the eyes.
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| image courtesy : google search |
Whether people speak tamizh language or not, they still celebrate the 'tamizhar tirunal' festival with zest...whatever it is celebration mood catch up everyone with the added holidays declared by Tamil Nadu Government irrespective of the caste or creed.
In some villages, the conduct the famous bull fights called 'Jallikattu' where the ferocious bulls are let loose in the arena and the brave men try to control them. In the process, the bulls as well as the men folks undergo trouble & many men get killed or seriously injured. Yet it has its own charm, thus it is conducted every year with zest.
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| image courtesy : google search |
The island ground holds exibhition.....
the giant wheel and the focus lights draws people's attention towards them. Various stalls housing attractive things and some stalls have some recreations for the visitors by showing them
magic shows, shooting the balloon, throwing the ring and claiming the prize, etc. The papads, cotton candy & eatables and toy items, rides etc are the centre of attraction. .. I miss them all now...but the memories are so sweet when I rewind them, which is still evergreen in me
As per tradition, the next day of pongal, in some homes, in the early morning 'kanu padi' is kept - to feed the crows. Morning, ladies visit elderly ladies with a fresh turmeric in hand to get their blessings. With the previous day leftover rice (purposely cooked extra for this ritual) with some pongal specialities is made into balls and placed on the leaf of the turmeric plant, then placed in the terrace or in open space & invite the attentions of the crows (by saying "Ka Ka"... cawing like them!) and pray for the loving bond between the family members like the crow family (?!) [another ritual to please the crow, which is normally shooed away during 'vadam' season?!!!]
Then, visits the relatives & get the blessings from the elders.
People visit relatives, go to beach, park, or riveside to spend the evening.
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| image courtesy : google search |
This harvest festival is celebrated through out India from east to west, from north to south.....under various names "sankaranti" , "Lohri " , "Bihu"
In Punjab it is Lohri. On the Sankaranti Eve, bonfire is lit and feasts are offered.
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| image courtesy : google search |
In the states of Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka it is called "Makar Sankaranti" where people make sesame ladoos and distribute with near and dear ones with greetings. In Marathi, there is a phrase "Til Gur Gya, God God Bola" meaning, Eat sweet and Talk Sweet. That day, colourful kites fly in the sky thus making a colourful sky in the blue blackground.
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| image courtesy : google search |
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| image courtesy : google search |
Thought the state and languages are different, the celebration is for celebrating prosperity and for thanks giving. Our festivals are closely associated with Nature thus making us realise how important it is.
Let us all join & Celebrate the festival paying our respect & honours to the Sun God, Rain God, The back bone of our country - The Farmer , the Cows & Bullocks and worship the nature in a pollutionless way.
Wish you all a happy Pongal / Lohri / Sankaranti / Bihu festival.
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Pongal Prashad for you........ sweet and salt pongal (Pongal 2015)
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undernourished....
will get a nice breakfast reward on the maatu pongal day as the day is for worshipping cows & bulls which helps the mankind toiling & troubling themselves. (See how clever 
