Celebrating The Harvest
The paddy is dancing and swaying to the rhythm of the wind. Waiting for the summer harvest. Stretches of sugarcane and paddy await the farmer's touch. The scarecrow knows it is the end of winter. The land will suddenly be bare. We look at the changing season, and know that the sun has summoned them into being. It is believed that on the seventh day Saptami of the new season the sun god changes the direction of his chariot from east to west, and enters into the Makara Rasi on the day of Pongal.
Pongal reminds us of our close associates with Nature and life. This three day festival can be termed as a celebration of thanks giving to the sun god - the life-giving force that moves from the Dakshinayanam to Uttarayanam (winter solstice to the summer solstice) for the cattle and birds that work along with man in the fields.
It is celebrated as a three-day festival in south India with slight differences in the mode of celebration. On the eve of Pongal - known as Bhogi, all unwanted things are burnt. The intention is to bury the hatchet and wicked thoughts. Newly harvested paddy crop with the husk and root is hung at the entrance, heralding the dawn of a new era. Sugarcane is lined at the entrance and banana, betel leaves, coconut, fresh ginger and turmeric, along with some flowers are tied around a clay cooking pot.
On the day of Pongal, fresh milk is poured into this vessel and kept on the fire in the open fields with the pot facing east. At dawn, just as the sun rises the milk is boiled and when it boils over we wish each other saying Pongalo, Pongal. It also symbolises the mind and ego being purified.
Farmers await the direction of the flow and use it as an indicator of the coming year's fortunes. It is believed that if the milk flows to the east, the year ahead would be a prosperous one.
In parts of Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh, people exchange a tray of fried gram mixed with bits of coconut, along with sakkare hacchu (sugar candy doll) made of different colours, with sugarcane and betel leaves. Pongal is an important village festival bringing together folk from surrounding and neighbouring villages. Songs that indicate the marriages of heaven and the earth, the sky and the soil are sung.
In Maharastra, people exchange gingelly seeds and jaggery saying Til Gud de, god god bol meaning "Take the jaggery with the gingelly seeds and speak good words." In Gujarat, it is kite making and kite flying. It is celebrated in different parts of India with many symbolic representations of nature and festivity. It is a festival of completeness, newness, fullness and freshness. This festival connects man, birds, beasts and plants together with the earth.
On the second day the cows and bulls are decorated, given new iron hoofs, new ploughs, and are left free to graze around. They are given new bells and trinkets, which help the farmer to identify his cattle. They are fed with the Pongal from the previous day and given plenty of grass and fodder to eat. It is known as Mattu Pongal, in Tamil Nadu.
The third day is known as Kaannum Pongal. Women eat the previous day's food and pray for their brother's prosperity and health.