The four days of Pongal have their own individual significance. Held in the middle of January, Pongal continues through the first four days of Thai month. The word Pongal literally means "boiling over" and is celebrated by Hindus to mark the harvesting of the bounteous crops in the fields. This is a harvest festival - the Tamil equivalent of Thanksgiving. It is held to honour the Sun, and farm animals for their assistance for a bountiful harvest. The rest of the people celebrate the festival to pay their thanks to the farmers for the production of food. Families gather to rejoice and share their joy and their harvests with others. The Sun is offered a "Pongal" of rice and milk.
Thai Pongal is celebrated on January 14th every year. The month of Thai (January) is the harvest season in the Tamil homeland spanning from Thamil Nadu to Tamil Eelam. Pongal refers to rice cooked in milk and sweetened with brown sugar (chakkarai, from which the English word jaggery is derived). On a full scale it is a three-day festival of nature-worship. It includes feeding the birds that are part of the beauty of nature, and offering thanks to the cattle, Mattu Pongal, which gives milk and plough the fields. Jallikkattu is a peaceful sport involving bulls celebrated by young men as a part of 4-day Thai Pongal. Overall, it is a festival to encourage social cohesiveness and unite people by bringing them together in a common function. There are many songs about Thai Pongal and there is much Tamil literature about it.
The history of Pongal can be traced back to the Sangam Age, ie, 200 B.C. to 300 A.D. Pongal is an ancient festival of the Tamils and it is not known when exactly the Tamils began celebrating the festival, but some historians identify it with the Thai Un and Thai Niradal, believed to have been celebrated during the Sangam Age. Pongal, a traditional Tamilian food item that has found a place in the menu of Indian restaurants across the globe, is perhaps the only dish to have lent its name to a festival. They worshiped the image of Goddess Katyayani, which would be carved out of sand. They ended their penance on the first day of the month of Thai (January-February). This penance was to bring abundant rains and agricultural prosperity for the country. Thai Niradal was a major festival during the reign of the Pallavas (4th to 8th Century A.D.). Andal's Tiruppavai and Manickavachakar's Tiruvembavai vividly describe the festival. According to an inscription found in the Veeraraghava temple at Tiruvallur, the Chola king Kiluttunga used to gift lands to the temple specially for the Pongal celebrations.
According to Hindu mythology, this is when the day of the gods begins, after a six-month long night. The festival is spread over three days and is the most important and most fervently-celebrated harvest festival of South India. A special puja is performed on the first day of Pongal before the cutting of the paddy. Farmers worship the sun and the earth by anointing their ploughs and sickles with sandal wood paste. It is with these consecrated tools that the newly-harvested rice is cut. According to a legend, once Shiva asked his bull, Basava, to go to the earth and ask the mortals to have an oil massage and bath every day and to eat once a month. Inadvertently, Basava announced that everyone should eat daily and have an oil bath once a month. This mistake enraged Shiva who then cursed Basava, banishing him to live on the earth forever. He would have to plough the fields and help people produce more food. Thus the association of this day with cattle.
Each of the three days are marked by different festivities. The first day, Bhogi Pongal, is a day for the family. Surya Pongal, the second day, is dedicated to the worship of Surya, the Sun God. Boiled milk and jaggery is offered to the Sun God. The third day of Pongal, Mattu Pongal, is for worship of the cattle known as Mattu. Cattle are bathed, their horns polished and painted in bright colors, and garlands of flowers placed around their necks. The Pongal that has been offered to the Gods is then given to cattle and birds to eat.
As part of the festivities, maidens of the Sangam era observed penance during the Tamil month of Margazhi (December-January). Throughout the month, they avoided milk and milk products. They would not oil their hair and refrained from using harsh words while speaking. The women had their ceremonial baths early in the morning.
The preparation of Pongal festival are quite elaborate and starts few days before the actual date of celebration. Pongal is one such festival in which not only people are charged up, but animals also join in the Pongal preparation. People get busy decking up their houses, discarding old and unwanted things. Many of them get busy giving a fresh coat of paint to their homes. Women are engrossed in rangoli patterns and colors. In preparation for Pongal, houses and courtyards are cleaned and a new string of fresh mango leaves is hung at the front door of the house. The making of sweet rice is the most important preparation done. This is a dish prepared with rice, dal, jaggery, dry fruits, sugar and milk. All these ingredients are cooked in a new clay pot in the open and allowed to boil over, signifying plenty and prosperity for the year ahead. This is offered to the Sun God and partaken as prasad.
Pongal preparation is actually done for three-day, with Bhogi coming on January 13th , Pongal on 14th and Kanumu on 15th every year. On the Bhogi day, the Pongal Preparation involve all family members cleaning up the whole house, getting rid of all the useless things by throwing them into a bonfire that is lit before sunrise. On the Pongal day, the houses are decked up to look their best. New clothes for the family is a must, and gifts are bestowed to all relatives, specially newly married couples and babies. Kanumu is also called as Mattu Pongal, when the cattle and especially the cows are worshiped. Cow is the harbinger of prosperity through milk and working in the fields along with the bulls. They are painted and decorated with bells, seashells, and beads. They are garlanded and taken out around the village in a procession. The entire atmosphere becomes festive and full of fun and revelry.
The first day of Pongal known as 'Bhogi Pongal' is a day for family gathering and is dedicated to Lord Indra, the king of the deities and God of the Clouds and Rains. Offerings are made to him to please him so that he blesses us for the plentiful harvest. It is also the beginning of the New Year according to the Malayalam calendar and before sunrise, a huge bonfire of useless things in home is lit that is kept burning throughout the night. All the time, boys beat little buffalo-hide drums known as 'Bhogi Kottus'. The houses are then cleaned till they shine and are decorated with Kolams painted using rice four. There are yellow pumpkin flowers are set in cow-dung balls in the middle of these designs.
The second day of Pongal known as 'Surya Pongal' is dedicated to the Sun God. The granaries are kept full on this day and Sun God with his rays are painted on a plank as he is worshiped with the birth of the new auspicious month of Thai. Since the word 'Ponga' means 'to boil' representing plentiful and excess yield, a special dish is cooked on this day in a new mud-pot that comes in innovative shapes and have artistic designs on them called 'Pongapani'. The special dish is called 'Sarkkarai Pongal' and is offered to Sun God with sugarcane sticks. It is said that Lord Sundareshwar performed a miracle on this day in the Madurai temple and breathed life into a stone elephant who ate sugarcanes. One can see the depiction of the event in the Meenakshi temple. There are several legends associated with Perum Pongal. A sage named Hema prayed to Lord Vishnu on the banks of the Pottramarai tank in Kumbakonam. On Perum Pongal day, the lord is believed to have taken the form of Sarangapani and blessed the sage. Yet another legend has it that Lord Shiva performed a miracle where a stone image of an elephant ate a piece of sugarcane.
The third day known as 'Mattu Pongal' is dedicated to the cattle as cowherds and shepherds pay thanks to their cows and bulls, paint their horns and cover them with shining metal caps. They are fed 'Pongal' and tinkling bells are tied around their neck. Cattle races are conducted and in the game called 'Manji Virattu' groups of young men chase running bulls. Bull fights called 'Jallikattu' are also arranged at some places where young men have to take the money bags tied to the horns of ferocious bulls single-handedly and without the use of arms. Lord Ganesha and Goddess Parvati are also worshiped on this day. At some other places, this day is celebrated as Kanu Pongal when girls feed colored balls of cooked rice to the birds and crows and pray for their brothers' happiness and that they always remember them.
Another legend is associated with the third day of Pongal celebration, also known as Mattu Pongal. According to it, Lord Shiva once asked Nandi, his bull, to go to earth and deliver his message to the people - to have an oil bath every day, and food once a month. But Nandi got it all mixed up when he delivered the message, and told the people that Shiva asked them to have an oil bath once a month, and eat every day. Shiva was displeased, and told Nandi that since the people would now need to grow more grain, Nandi would have to remain on earth and help them plough the fields. Mattu Pongal is also called Kanu Pongal, and women pray for the welfare of their brothers.
The fourth day is termed as Kaanum Pongal. On this day, people travel to see other family members. On this day, the younger members of the family pay homage to the elders, and the elders thank them by giving token money. Another thing many do is leave food out on banana leaves for birds to take. Many South Indian people will take the first bit of rice cooked in any given day and set it outside for the crows to take, so this is not necessarily a habit only for Pongal.
People generally go for sightseeing, shopping and exchanging pleasantries with relatives and friends. The farmers, during this point of time, are generally flushed with money having sold their produce. On all the four days during Pongal festival, people make it a point to visit temples and invoke the blessings of the God for a good and prosperous beginning to the year. In the midst of all the cheer and celebration, the cynosure of all eyes is the traditional sport of valour -- the `jallikattu' (bull-fight). The valor of the youth goes on test at the `jallikattu'. The objective of the sport is to wrest the bounty, which is put in a cloth and tied to the horns of the bulls. Unlike in Spain the matador here does not kill the bull. In the past, the valiant youth were chosen as grooms for village damsels. With all its unique features and many hued celebrations, Pongal brings lots of happiness and joy in the family.