Pongal - The Celebration of Farmers and Tamils
Tomorrow is Pongal (பொங்கல்), also known as Tamizhar Thirunaal (தமிழர் திருநாள்). In translation, this means the great festivals of Tamils. This is widely celebrated by all Tamils across the Tamil diaspora and without a doubt, it’s my MOST favourite festivity. So for today’s post, I thought I would share with you guys about this festival, what it means to the Tamils and me and a little bit more about it. It has been around for as long as Tamils have! Rumoured to be the actual Tamil new year once upon a time (which you can probably see why when you see the significance and the extent of the festivities), this is actually a four-day festival celebrated in lieu of the harvest (usually rice) that farmers yield this time of the year.
Bhogi / போகி
This is the first day of the festival, falling on the last day of the Tamil month of Maargazhi (மார்கழி) and observed on the day before Pongal. On this day, we get rid of everything old in the house and do a major haul and clean up. Some people would even paint their house this time of the year. The point is to allow space for new things to enter our house and our lives here on – both material and spiritual. It doesn’t necessarily mean you have to go out and buy new things although some people do. Without a doubt, this is the most tiring day of the four but metaphorically, also the most beautiful.
Thai Pongal (தை பொங்கல்)
This is the actual festival which we refer to colloquially when talking about the four-day event. Pongal occurs on the first day of the Tamil month of Thai (தை , hence the name Thai Pongal). This usually happens around January 14 or 15. Celebrating to express our gratitude to the sky (i.e., the clouds, precipitation, and rain) and the Sun for helping us with our farming process, the word Pongal refers to the method the rice is cooked in. This day is also referred to as uzhavar thirunaal (உழவர் திருநாள்), or in English, farmers’ day to commemorate their labour in bringing the rest of us food.
You would probably find variants in the nitty-gritty details of the celebration. But the core of it as follows. You come up with a new + makeshift stove for the day (you are not supposed to use one that you already have although this has changed over the years due to a matter of convenience). You get yourself a nice clay pot and decorate it with vibuthi (விபூதி), santhanam (சந்தனம்), and kungumam (குங்குமம்) (holy ash, sandal, and kungumam). You wrap a stalk of ginger and turmeric around it and you set it on the stove. You add some milk, banana, a piece of straw (rice stalk) and water. Now, this can’t be regular water. It has to be water that you used to wash the rice for the second or the third time. This is how you get the pot to froth a lot of bubbles during the boiling process. And on Pongal, your Pongal pot needs to froth as much as possible. It’s fun. Then you add the rice and when that’s cooked, tada! Pongal! Traditionally, this savoury version is the one that was offered to the sky and the Sun although, with time, people have started to make a sweet version in another pot with some jaggery as well because what is a festival without something sweet, right?
Another important element of this feast includes ezhu kaari kootu (ஏழு கரி கூட்டு) or rather, a curry made of 7 vegetables. People usually harvest some vegetables around this year as well (plantains and pumpkins are usually involved). If you’re feeling fancy, you can turn it into a 9 or 11 vegetable stew too but it’s important that you maintain an odd number. Odd numbers are the only way to go for us.
You will have sugarcane (not those cut up pieces mind you, like the ENTIRE sugarcane cut off from its roots), the usual praying which then involves all the incense which just feel good and extra special food. This method of cooking rice also produces a slightly different texture and taste.
Maatu Pongal (மாட்டுப் பொங்கல்)
Done the day after Pongal, this day has two parts to it – one before sunset and one after sunset. Pre-sunset, it’s all about thanking the cows for their role in the farming and agriculture process. Let’s just say if you’re a cow, this is the best possible day for you. I’m not even joking. Cows are bathed in turmeric infused water, they are given garlands to wear and kungumam (குங்குமம்) is applied to their foreheads. While people who raise their own cows (like farmers) dote on their cows on any given day (my great grandmother and a few other relatives talk to their cows like how they talk to people), cows are coddled even more on this day. Cows are seen as intelligent and useful beings by Tamil people, and the Tamil word for cow is also said to mean wealth. Another round of Pongal is cooked on this day to be fed to them.
Post-sunset, it’s time to worship our ancestors. 4 pieces of sticks from neem trees are placed outside the four corners of the house – this is to prevent anything “bad” from getting in. #goodvibesonly Now, this is the time of the four-day festival where you enter MAJOR feast mode. Every seafood possible, lamb, chicken, and eggs are cooked as various curries (குழம்பு) and masalas (வறுவல் / பிரட்டல்) so as to offer them to our ancestors. Other interesting items that make appearances include sweets like alva (அல்வா), beedi (பீடி/thin cigarettes) and kallu (கல்லு/palm wine). The people who live in the house may not be consuming the latter two but on the day of Maatu Pongal, they will get them for the ancestors just to please their souls.
Kaanum Pongal (காணும் பொங்கல்)
The last day of the festivities, Kaanum Pongal is the day people visit the elders in their nuclear and extended families to you know, get blessings and express their gratitude. Kaanum literally means to visit which is why this is done. It’s also referred to as Kanni Pongal (கன்னி பொங்கல்) because young, unmarried women of the house (i.e., virgins) tend to gather in temples, by the ponds and other areas to cook the leftover vegetables from the past 3 days and have a cute and fun together with other women of the village. It’s the version of girls’ day back in the day. Remember the sugarcane I mentioned for Pongal? It can’t be moved anywhere from where it’s perched or eaten until this day. People who have more money and people helping them out with their lands, chores and around the house gift them with garments on this day as well.
In the Tamil culture, when a family member passes away, we don’t celebrate Deepavali and other festivities, we don’t light lamps or visit a temple for an entire year as we are considered to be in mourning. However, no matter what happens, people will do the act of boiling the rice like how I described on the day of Thai Pongal at the very least even if they are in mourning. Pongal is never negated. Maybe it’s for this reason that Pongal feels special to me. Sure, on the surface it seems like fun, food, and festivities, but it’s actually all about gratitude and taking a moment (or four days) to be mindful about how we manage to get the food we do on our plates. The labour and the forces that go into the food we mindlessly eat, indulge or waste. And you guys know how much I feel about food – which is probably why Pongal is my favourite Tamil festivity. Most years I don’t feel like I have actually started the new year until we celebrate Pongal. So to all my fellow Tamil friends who are celebrating, Pongalo Pongal! And for the rest of you who are not, hope you guys got a little more insight into this festival and what it means for us!
cover image courtesy of: https://www.timesnownews.com/spiritual/religion/article/mattu-pongal-2021-know-the-significance-of-this-auspicious-day/707433
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