THAI PONGAL Ysabel Deborah

WHAT IS PONGAL?
A harvest festival
celebrated by Tamil people at the end of the harvest
season
It is a four-day festival generally from January 13 to
January 16
Thai Pongal is primarily celebrated to convey
appreciation and thankfulness to the Sun as the
primary energy source of agriculture and good
harvests. It is one of the most important festivals
celebrated by Tamil people in the Indian state of Tamil
 WHAT DOES PONGAL
MEAN?
In Tamil, the word pongal means
"overflowing" and signifies abundance and
prosperity.
On the day of Pongal, there is a symbolic
ritual of boiling fresh milk in a new clay
pot at sunrise. When the milk boils over
and bubbles out of the vessel, people
shout "Pongalo Pongal!“
 BHOGI PANDIGAI
1 DAY
ST

The first day of Thai Pongal.

On this day, people discard
old things and focus on new
belongings.
People assemble to light a
bonfire and discard old and
used possessions.
Houses are cleaned, painted
and decorated for a festive
look.
 PONGAL PANDIGAI
2 DAY
ND

The second day of Thai Pongal is the main day of the festival
and eponymously named Pongal. It falls on the first day of the
Tamil month of Thai and usually on either January 14 or 15.
It is celebrated by preparing a sweet dish of boiling rice, also
known as "pongal", in new clay pots. The dish is traditionally
cooked at sunrise, and the rice is later topped with sugar, ghee,
cashew nuts and raisins.
The moment the milk boils over and bubbles out of the vessel,
the tradition is to shout "Pongalo Pongal!", add freshly
harvested rice grains in the pot. Tamils consider it a good sign
to watch the milk boil over as it connotes good luck and
prosperity.
 PONGAL
DISH
People also prepare
savories and sweets
such as vadai,
murukku, and
paayasam, visit each
other, and exchange
greetings.
 KOLAM/
RANGOLI
Tamils draw kolam or
rangoli on their door steps,
consume sugar cane,
prepare sweetened rice,
milk and jaggery in new
earthen pots and dedicate
their work to the sun god.
Elders in the family present
gifts to the young
MAATTU PONGAL
3RD DAY
The third day of Tamil Pongal is called
Maattu Pongal and is a day intended to
celebrate cattle and thank them for
their favour in farming.
People bathe their cattle, paint their
horns with colorful paints, decorate
them with garlands and place kumkum
on their foreheads.
The cattle are fed a mixture of venn
pongal, jaggery, honey, bananas, and
other fruits. In rural Tamil Nadu,
adventurous games such as "Jallikkattu"
or "taming the wild bull" are features of
The women then pray for the well being
of their brothers and for their brother-
sister ties to remain forever strong like
the family of crows.
KANNUM PONGAL Family reunion
Visiting family members
and friends

4 DAY
TH Brother attribution
towards sisters
THANK YOU!
WORKS CITED
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thai_Pongal
http://www.pongalfestival.org/the-
harvest-festival.html
Sachchidananda; Prasad, R. R. (1996).
Encyclopaedic profile of Indian
tribes. Discovery Publishing House. p.
183. ISBN 978-81-7141-298-3.
Retrieved 3 January 2012.