Page 26 - Pastiche Vol 1 Edition 1 January 2019

The First Day/ Bhogi
This first day is celebrated as Bhogi festival in honor of Lord Indra, the supreme ruler of
clouds that give rains. Homage is paid to Lord Indra for the abundance of harvest, thereby
bringing plenty and prosperity to the land. Another ritual observed on this day is Bhogi
Mantalu, when useless household articles are thrown into a fire made of wood and cow-dung
cakes. The disposal of worn-out items is similar to the traditions of Holika in North India.
The people assemble at dawn in Tamil Nadu to light a bonfire in order to burn the discards.
Girls dance around the bonfire, singing songs in praise of the gods, the spring and the
harvest. The significance of the bonfire, in which is burnt the agricultural wastes and
firewood is to keep warm during the last lap of winter.

Houses are cleaned, painted and decorated to give a festive
look. The horns of oxen and buffaloes are painted in villages.
In Tamil Nadu farmers keep medicinal herb (neem, avram,
sankranti) in northeast corner of each fields, to prevent crops
from diseases and pests. Bhogi is also observed on the same
day in Andhra Pradesh. In the ceremony called Bhogi Pallu,
fruits of the harvest such as regi pallu (jujuba) and sugar cane
are collected along with flowers of the season. Money is often
placed into a mixture of treats and is poured over children. Jujuba
. The children then separate and collect the money and sweet fruits.

The Second Day/ Thai Pongal
Thai Pongal, takes place on the second day of Pongal, where milk is cooked in an
earthenware pot usually in a porch or courtyard under sunlight and freshly harvested rice
grains, pulses, cardamom, raisins, Green gram (split), and cashew nuts are added when it
starts to bubble and overflows out of the vessel. A turmeric plant is tied around the pot in
which the rice will be boiled. It is then symbolically offered to the sun-god along with two
sticks of sugar-cane in background and coconut and bananas in the dish. Pongal has two
variants, one sweet and one savoury. The dish is served on banana leaves.

Tamilians decorate their homes with banana and mango leaves and embellish the floor with
decorative patterns drawn using rice flour. Kolams/rangolis are drawn on doorsteps with
lime powder in the early morning after bathing. Family elders present gifts to the young. All
people wear traditional dress and markings, and there is an interesting ritual where
husband and wife dispose off elegant ritual utensils specially used for the puja

The Third Day/Maatu Pongal
The third day is known as Mattu Pongal, the day of Pongal for cows. Celebrants bathe and
decorate their cattle with garlands, turmeric water and oil. Apply kumkum to their
foreheads, multi-colored beads, tinkling bells, sheaves of corn and flower garlands are tied
around the neck and then are worshiped. They are fed with a mixture of venn pongal,
jaggery, honey, banana and other fruits, and taken to the village centers. Arati is performed
on them, a torch of coconut leaves and carried around the cattle three times and then run to
the border of the village to drop it. This is believed to ward off evil eye. Tamils regard cattle
as sources of wealth for providing dairy products, fertilizer, and labor for plowing and
transportation.

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