The most common variations include Lohri, Makar Sankranti, Poki, Bihu and Hadaga. Businesses related to agricultural may remain closed. However, colleges and schools in these regions remain closed for all fours of the festival. Pongal is a religious holiday in central and south India for employees, but is not a gazetted holiday in India. Pongal is also the name of a sweetened dish of rice boiled with lentils, which is prescriptively consumed on the festival day.īank Holidays 2022 in India Saturday bank holiday 2022 Public Life During Pongal Holidays A portion of the celebration is the sweltering of the first rice of the season. The origins of the festival of Pongal might date to more than 1,000 years ago. The festival is fundamentally celebrated to express appreciation to the Sun God for an efficacious harvest. This also relates to the Indic solstice when the sun professedly arrives the 10th house of the Indian zodiac Makara. Pongal denotes the beginning of the sun’s six-month long voyage northwards. Pongal is primary a thanksgiving to the Sun God for harvest. It brings happiness to the people being the first festival of the Gregorian calendar. The festival is usually observed in the month of January every year. Tamil Nadu, a south Indian state, is famous for celebrating the festival of Pongal that lasts for 4 days. Pongal is a popular Hindu festival celebrated in all parts of the country by different names. Witness this festival if you are in South India in the month of January. The women then perform a ritual praying for the prosperity of their brothers.Ī huge festival down south, Pongal is also known for its special traditional dishes.
On this day, the leftovers (food) are placed on a washed turmeric leaf along with sugarcane and betel leaves. The fourth and the final day is celebrated as Kaanum Pongal. Shiva, as punishment, asked Basava to return to the earth forever and help people produce more food by ploughing the fields. Basava got confused and conveyed just the opposite massage. As per the myth, Lord Shiva sent his bull-Basava to earth to send across the message that Shiva wants the mortals to take oil massage and bath daily and eat once a month. The third day is celebrated as Mattu Pongal where people indulge in worshipping cows. It’s usually done early in the morning after taking a bath. People also decorate their house entrances with Kolam. This is the day when people offer rice and milk boiled together to the Sun God.
The second day of the festival is known as Thai Pongal. A popular custom on this day is to burn all the useless items in a household by throwing them in a bonfire made of wood, cakes, and cow dung. The first day is called the Bhogi festival and is observed to honour Lord Indra. Since it’s a four-day festival, each day has its own significance. It is for this reason that people boil rice in milk and offer it to the sun before the commencement of the festival. The day is generally celebrated as a gesture of appreciation toward the Sun God for successful harvest. The word “Pongal” is associated with rice and means “to boil”.