Festivals in India- Pongal

Pongal is a major festival of south India, especially in Chennai. This is traditionally a rural festival and is celebrated in cities as well with enthusiasm.

Pongal indicates the completion of south east monsoon and denotes the harvest season. This is known as the Thai month and is celebrated considering it to be sacred.

This festival comprises the worship of Mother Earth, Sun God and cattle for being responsible for good harvest. This is celebrated for four days in Tamil Nadu.

There are legends associated to this festival as well. The first day denotes paying homage to Lord Krishna for lifting the Govardhan Mountain and saving people from incessant rain.

The third day is believed that Lord Shiva sent his bull to give message to the people on the earth to take an oil bath daily and eat once a month.

Regrettably, the bull gave the opposite message as to eat daily and take oil bath once a month. Lord Shiva outraged sends him to earth to plough land to grow grains.

Pongal mainly focuses the farmers producing good harvest and the very first day is called as Bhogi Pongal. On this day, people wash their houses, color and decorate it with flower garlands and conduct a puja.

The next day is the Surya Pongal and a south Indian delicacy is prepared using jaggery, ghee and rice. The sun god is worshipped and the houses are decorated using colorful rangolis called as Kolams.

The third day is dedicated to the cattle called as Mattu Pongal as it helps in the field. The cattle are offered a grand treat. It is given a thorough bath and is flowered, belled and is as well colored.

The last day of Pongal is known as Kaanum Pongal. This day is meant for mass celebration for friends and family. Jallikattu is a bull fight held in rural areas. There are cock fights and cart races as well conducted on the last day of Pongal.

India is well-known to be a land of agriculture and the Indian population survives on this occupation to a great extent. This is apparent in many of the festivities as numerous festivals are related to agriculture.

Pongal is a popular festival and is observed to mark the harvesting of crops. This festival falls in mid-January and people in Tamil Nadu observe this festival with significance.

People thank god, mother earth and the cattle. The last day of the festival day is a relaxation day and this is an important event. People as well pack their lunch and visit the Kaveri river banks.