Thanksgiving is an important aspect of Thamil culture and tradition as is the case with many other civilisations. Most thanksgiving ceremonies are religious in nature as people of each culture thank their chosen deity for the favours granted to them, though this is not always the case.
The Thamil festival of Thai Pongal is a thanks-giving ceremony. It is the equivalent of Canada’s Thanks Giving Day. Pongal is a traditional four-days-long harvest festival celebrated by Thamils living all around the world. Pongal day and the date following are national holidays in Thamil Nadu. So long as people have been planting and gathering food, there has been some form of harvest festival. Pongal, one of the most important popular festivals of the year. This four-day festival of thanksgiving to nature takes its name from the Thamil word meaning “to boil” and is held on the first day of the month of Thai (January -February) when rice and other cereals, sugar-cane, and turmeric (an essential ingredient in Tamil cooking) are harvested.
Mid-January is an important time in the Thamil calendar. The harvest festival, Pongal, falls typically on the 14th or the 15th of January and is the quintessential ‘Thamil Festival’. Pongal is an occasion for giving thanks to nature, for celebrating the life cycles that give us grain. For Thamil farmers it is an occasion to thank gift of nature like the sun and farm cattle for their assistance in reaping a bountiful harvest. Thamilians say ‘Thai pirandhaal vazhi pirakkum’, and believe that knotty family problems will be solved with the advent of the Thamil month Thai that begins on Pongal day. This is traditionally the month of weddings. This is not a surprise in a largely agricultural community – the riches gained from a good harvest form the economic basis for expensive family occasions like weddings. Thamils refer to Pongal as “Tamizhar Thirunal” (meaning “the festival of Thamils”).
In 1921 Thamil scholars who gathered under the leadership of the “Thamil Kadal” (Sea) Maraimalai Adikal after long deliberations decided unanimously that the Thamil New Year commenced on the first day of the Thamil month “Thai” which coincided with the birth day of Saint Thiruvalluvar. All the twelve months that followed have pure Thamil names. Other scholars included Thamil Thenral V. Kalyanundaram, Thamil Kavalar K.Subramaniumpillai, Saiva Periyaar Satchithananthampillai, Naavalar Somasundara Barathiyar, Naavalar N.M. Vegkadasami Naadaar and Muthamil Kaavalar K.A.P. Visvanatham. The tradition of celebrating Chiththirai 01 (April 14) consisted of a cycle of sixty years from Prabhava to Atchaya and then the next sixty years starting with Prabhava. This makes it mathematically impossible to keep track or chronologically record historical events that happened in the past. Suppose a great leader was born in the year of Atchaya after a lapse of one or two centuries it will not be able to decipher the exact age or period of that event.
Thirukkural was written by Thiruvalluvar, who is believed to have born 30 years before Jesus Christ. The Thamil Calendar is dated from that period and referred as Thiruvalluvar Aandu (Year). We find Thiruvalluvar as a moral philosopher, political scientist and master of public administration in the first two parts of Thirukkural. We find him to be a creative artist in the third part, depicting the fascinating aspects of lovers. Thirukkural’s immortality and universality are unquestionable. Its ethics and values are applicable to all religions, countries and time. It has been translated in over 60 languages of the
In 1969 M. Karunanidhi, Chief Minister of Thamil Nadu, ordered that the day after Pongal should be celebrated as Thiruvalluvar Day all over Thamilnadu. He also declared the day as a government holiday. The second day of Thai (Thai thingaL) is celebrated as Thiruvalluvar Day since 1974. Thamilnadu Government also adopted the Thamil Calendar based on the birth of Thiruvalluvar in 1971, in government gazette since 1972 and in all government offices from 1981. In 2008 the Thamil Nadu government passed into law legislation declaring Thai 01 (January 14) as the birth of Thamil New Year and Thai Pongal Vizha. Pongal day and the following day have also been declared statuary holidays.
In the solar calendar, January 14/15 has astronomical significance. It is the day the sun after making a complete circle is seen going on its ’northward journey’ (Uththarayanam) and observed from the earth the sun enters one of the 12 imaginary zodiac sign of Magara Raasi (Capricorn) from Dhanu Raasi (Sagittarius). In ancient times, the lunar and nor the solar calendar was followed in celebrating festivals. There is historical evidence to show that Thai Pongal was celebrated on the day when the new moon was sighted. This was because in ancient times the calendar was based on the basis of the changing phases of the moon.
The celebration of Thai 1st goes back to the latter part of the Sangam age. According to the Sangam literary work Paripaadal, this day is related to the Thiruvaathirai festival. Having spent the entire month of Maarkazhi praying to god and observing ritual fasting, young virgins celebrated the last day, Thai 1, with the Thai Bathing. According to the work Kaliththokai, the rituals during the month of Maarkazhi are observed in the hope that it will lead to wedlock with a good-hearted husband. It also mentions the worship of Sun as a deity.
According to the stone carvings [kalvettu] at Thiruvotriyoor, Pongal was celebrated during the time of the great king Raajaraaja Chozhan 1. This festival was known as the “Puthiyeedu” festival. Puthiyeedu meant the first harvest of the year.
Both the Maarkazhi month rituals and the Thai 1st bathing rituals are practiced even today. It was these secular rituals that inspired the immortal hymns of Thiruppaavai and Thiruvempaavai by Saintess Aandaal and Saint Maanikkavaasakar respectively in the 9thcentury.
Pongal refers to rice cooked in milk and sweetened with jaggery. On a full scale it is a four day festival of nature-worship. On the first day before Thai Pongal courtyards are cleaned, old wares are discarded and replaced with new things, homes colour-washed and decorated. On the morning of Pongal day the front garden is pre-prepared for the ceremonious cooking.
On the third day thanks are offered to the cattle, Mattu Pongal or Paddip Pongal, which helped farmers to plough the fields, transport goods and provide milk to drink. On this day the cattle is bathed, decorated and given special gruel. Turmeric, kunkumam are applied to the horns of the cattle, garlands, small bells and bundles of vadai are hung around their necks and they are paraded in the streets. The cooked Pongal is given to the cattle to eat. In Thamil Nadu, a kind of bullfight called the ‘Jallikattu’ is staged by young men on the 3rd day of Thai Pongal celebrations. On the fourth day people exchange visit with their relations and close friends.
In short, people, houses, and cows all take on an air of freshness and radiance during Thamil New Year and Pongal. There is also the hope that “When Thai is born, a way will be born.” Thai piRanthaal, vazhi piRakkum). Thai is considered an auspicious month to hold weddings.
On Thai Pongal day members of the family wake up early in the morning, take special baths, puts on new clothes and gather in the front of the garden (muttram) to cook the traditional Pongal (rice pudding).
A flat square pitch is made and decorated with kolam drawings, and it is exposed to the direct sun light. A fire wood hearth will be set up using three bricks. . The cooking begins by putting a clay pot with water on the hearth.
A senior member of the family will conduct the cooking and the rest of the family dutifully assists him or her or watches the event. The moment of climax is the spill over of the Pongal during cooking. The spillover of milk is a propitious symbol of abundance and good omen and shouts of “ Pongalo Pongal”. Thereafter, a member of the family ceremoniously puts three handful of new rice inside the boiling pot.
The other ingredients of this special dish are chakkarai (brown cane sugar) or katkandu (sugar candy), milk (cow’s milk or coconut milk), roasted green gram (payaru), raisins, cashew nuts and few pods of cardamom.
When the meal is ready it is first put on a banana leaf and the family pray for a few minutes to thank nature, sun and farmers.
Then the meal (Pongal) is served with fruits (banana and mango) among the family. Later it will be shared with neighbours, friends and relatives.
The richness of Thamil culture and historical traditions is symbolized in the Thamil New Year and Thai Pongal festival.
It is a joyous and happy occasion when the poor, the rich, the farmer, the villager all celebrate the harvest festival together irrespective of their individual faith.
By celebrating this festival the Thamils in Diaspora help to perpetuate our rich culture, traditions, literary opulence, sublime philosophy and socio-economic aspirations. Also to give an emotional link to our kith and kin at home who for the first time in two decades are celebrating Pongal in an atmosphere of relative peace.
On this Thamil New Year and Pongal festive day, we should banish superstitious beliefs, darkness of ignorance and egoistic arrogance. Instead lit the light of knowledge and the warmth of human love and compassion among all people.
Source: http://nakkeran.com/Pongaleng2003.htm
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