This is a guest post by Abhay Kanwar.
Pongal is celebrated all over Tamil Nadu and is like a harvest festival, similar to Lohri. Pongal is connected with cleaning up the old, burning down rubbish, and welcoming new crops. Pongal is celebrated during the same time as 'Bhogali Bihu' in the North Eastern State of Assam, 'Lohri' in Punjab, 'Bhogi' in Andhra Pradesh and 'Makar Sankranti' in the rest of the country, including Karnataka, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Bengal. This year Pongal falls on the 14th of January. It is typically a 4-day festival.
DAY 1: The houses are cleaned, clothes are washed and old things are thrown away. At the entrance to their houses brightly colored designs, called Rangoli, are drawn using flowers or powder.
DAY 2: Sugarcane is brought to decorate the Pooja room. Sweet Pongal rice is cooked using a special pot, it is made from rice (of course), jaggery (a type of sugar), coconut, cashew nuts and milk. When cooked the pot is decorated with ash and fresh turmeric is wrapped around the rim.
DAY 3: The farmers decorate and garland their cows and oxen, usually painting their horns with the colours of the Indian flag or of a political party. In some towns bull running occurs where mad men try to jump on Brahmin bulls (the ones with humps) and hang on for as long as they can. Many get injured.
DAY 4: This day birds are worshipped. Girls prepare coloured balls of cooked rice and keep them in the open for birds and fowls to eat. On this day sister’s also pray for their brother’s happiness.
Stories associated with Pongal:
The most popular Pongal legend is the one associated with the first day of the celebrations when Lord Indra is worshipped. The story behind it is, on this day Indra being honored by all, became proud and arrogant. To teach him a lesson, Lord Krishna asked his cowherd friends to worship Mount Govardhan instead of Indra on the Bhogi Pongal day. Awfully infuriated, Indra sent forth the clouds to generate thunder, lightning and heavy rains and flood the land. But, as the tale goes, Lord Krishna lifted up the Govardhan Mountain on his little finger and sheltered the farmers, cowherd and their cattle. Indra then begged Shri Krishna's forgiveness and the latter re-permitted Bhogi celebrations in honour of Indra.
Tradition of exchanging Pongal gifts multiplies the joys of the festival and helps to develop stronger bonds of love and affinity between friends, relatives and neighbours. All through the four days of the festival people pay a visit to their near and dear ones and exchange box of sweets, dry fruits generally accompanied with flowers are a thoughtful Pongal gift. Children are particularly excited about the festival. For them it is the time for wish fulfillment as all their elders are too eager to pamper them with the best of Pongal gift.
Though there is a tradition to visit dear ones and personally greet them with Pongal Gift but for your dear ones staying in different cities and countries you can send Pongal gift by means of Floweraura, an online floral service throughout India. In recent times, online shopping for Pongal gifts is becoming increasingly popular as it is a convenient and faster way of sending good wishes. Flowers are regarded as the most beautiful medium of expressing good wishes and love on any occasion. For special ones, flowers could be accompanied by a cute gift to make a lasting impression. Sending Good Luck Plants is another great Pongal Gift Idea. Celebrate Pongal with Floweraura, with our wide variety of gifts and flowers, meant especially for this festival. Remember, Floweraura is always there to help you!
More about the author - Abhay Kanwar
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