தைப்பொங்கல்

Thai Pongal(தைப்பொங்கல்)

Thai Pongal (தைப்பொங்கல்) or Pongal (பொங்கல்) is a harvest festival celebrated by Tamils at the end of the harvest season. It is one of the most important festivals celebrated by the Tamils in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, the Indian Union Territory of Puducherry and Sri Lanka.

 

 

History

 The history may well be more than 1000 years old although some are of the view that the festival is older than that. Epigraphic Evidence suggests the celebration of the Puthiyeedu during the Medieval Chola empire days. It is thought that Puthiyeedu meant the first harvest of the year.The link between that fast and today's harvest festival needs to be further researched. Tamils refer to Pongal as "Tamizhar Thirunaal" (meaning "the festival of Tamils") Makara Sankranti in turn is referred to in the Surya Siddhanta.

 

 

 

Pongal dish

Besides rice and milk the ingredients of the sweet dish Pongal dish include cardamom, jaggery, raisins, mung dhal, and cashew nuts. Cooking is done in sunlight, usually in a porch or courtyard, as the dish is dedicated to the Sun god, Surya. The cooking is done in a clay pot called kollam which is decorated with coloured patterns. There are two versions of pongal, one sweet the other salted. The prepared dish is served on banana leaves.
Apart from Pongal Day celebrations, cooking pongal is a traditional practice at Hindu temples during any Temple Festival in Tamil Nadu. The community will convene to cook pongal rice, partake of it and distribute it to those present.
 

Maatu Pongal:-

 Cattle play an important role in the traditional Indian farmstead be it with regards to the provision of dairy products, its use for ploughing and transport and its provision of fertilizer. This explains the Tamil reference to cattle as wealth. On the day after Pongal, cattle are felicitated. In rural Tamil Nadu, adventurous games such as the Jallikkattu or taming the wild bull are features of the day. Maattu Pongal is intended to demonstrate our recognition and affection to cattle and decorate them with garlands, apply kungumam (kumkum) on their foreheads and are feed with a mixture of venn pongal, jaggery,honey,banana and other fruits

Kanu Pidi is a tradition that the ladies and young girls of the house follow. Women feed birds and pray for the well being of their brothers. Women of the family place different kinds of coloured rice, cooked vegetables, banana and sweet pongal on a ginger or turmeric leaf and invite the crows, which descend in hordes to share and enjoy the "Kaka pidi, Kanu pidi" feast. Women offer prayers in the hope that the brother-sister ties may remain forever strong like the family of crows.

Maatu pongal is a festival celebrated together by the villagers to thank the cows for their favour in farming. People bathe their cattle and paint their horns with colourful paints. In the evening people offer prayings to Lord Ganesh made out of mud and all the cattle of the village are gathered together and are decorated with garland, manjalthanni (turmeric water) only for cows, oil, shikakai, kumkum is applied on the forehead and fed with a mixture of venn pongal, Jaggery, honey, fruits etc. At the people torch out of coconut leaves and burn with fire and run around cattles thrice and run to the border of the village and drop their, this ritual is performed to remove all Drishti^.

Kaanum Pongal:-

  

This is a time for family reunions in Tamil Nadu. Falling on the third day of the Pongal festivities, brothers pay special tribute to their married sisters by giving gifts as affirmation of their filial love. Landlords present gifts of food, clothes and money to their workforce. During Kaanum Pongal (the word kaanum means "to view"), people visit relatives and friends to enjoy the festive season. In the cities this day is synonymous with people flocking to beaches and theme parks to have a day out with their families. They also chew sugar cane and decorate their houses with kolam. This day is a day to thank relatives and friends for their support in the harvest. Although it started as a farmers festival, today it has become a national festival for all Tamils irrespective of their origins or even religion. It is as popular in urban areas as is in rural areas.This festival also marks the end of the Pongal festivities for the year.
 
In Andhra Pradesh, Mukkanuma, the final day of Sankranthi festival, is celebrated to worship cattle. Mukkanuma is famous among the non-vegetarians of the society. People do not eat any non-vegetarian dishes during the first three days of the festival and eat it only on the day of Mukkanuma.















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