Home India News Delhi’s Tamil population gears up to celebrate Pongal

Delhi’s Tamil population gears up to celebrate Pongal

By NNN-PTI

New Delhi : The city’s 700,000 Tamil population is gearing up to celebrate the harvest festival of Pongal with literary programmes, mass prayers and music concerts.

The week-long celebrations will also include preparing ethnic delicacies and drawing the ‘kolam’ in the house.

‘Thai Pongal’, as it is popularly called in Tamil Nadu, is a thanksgiving ceremony celebrated by Tamil farmers to thank the spirits of nature, the sun and farm animals for their assistance in providing a successful harvest all through the year.

The festival is spread over four days, from the last day of ‘Margazhi’ to the third day of following month ‘Thai’ as ‘Bhogi’, ‘Thai Pongal’, ‘Mattu Pongal’ and ‘Kannum Pongal’.

“We may have settled here, but we haven’t forgotten our traditions. Almost all Tamils in Delhi celebrate Pongal the same way it is celebrated in Tamil Nadu,” Natesan, secretary of Tamil Youth Cultural Association, told PTI.

Pongal celebrations on January 15 start with the women drawing ‘Kolam’ in their houses and preparing ‘pongal prasadam’, a mix of rice, jaggery and milk, in ‘pongal pannai’, a ritual in which new earthen pots are painted and decorated with turmeric, flowers and mango leaves.

“We still celebrate the festival by cooking the Pongal in an earthen pot with water on the hearth, draw ‘kolam’ in the house and offer sugarcane to the Sun God,” Priya, a housewife said.