Celebrating 2010 Pongal Festival in Tamil Nadu
Rangoli (kolam). People
buy new clothes and take oil baths. During the festival, families gather to
feast and dance.
Popular attractions on the third and fourth
day of Pongal used to be bull fights and bird fights, particularly Jallikattu in
On the main Pongal day (the second day,
called Surya Pongal), the Sun God is worshiped. People also gather in their
homes to cook the Pongal dish. It`s offered to the Sun God during prayers, and
later served for lunch.
The third day (Mattu Pongal), is dedicated to worshiping the farm animals, particularly cows. Most farmers still use bulls, bullock carts, and antiquated traditional implement for ploughing.On the fourth day (Kanya Pongal), birds are worshiped.
The most important part of the Pongal
festival is cooking the Pongal dish. Venpongal is made with rice mixed with
moong daal, and cooked with ghee, cashew nuts, raisins, and spices. There`s
also a sweet version of pongal called Sakkarai pongal. It`s made with jaggery
(a type of sugar) instead of spices.
Pongal is celebrated on the same dates every
year, at the start of the Tamil month,
Pongal is widely celebrated
in southern
On the first day (Bhogi Pongal), houses are
thoroughly cleaned an decorated. The fronts of houses are adorned with
