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Thai Pongal is a harvest festival celebrated by Tamils worldwide. It is similar to Thanksgiving and lasts several days, with the main meal being a rice pudding called pongal. Cattle are revered, and harvest gods are thanked. The month of Thai is associated with rebirth and celebrations. The festival includes discarding old things, wearing new clothes, and forgiving quarrels. It can be divided into several days, including one for blessing unmarried women.
Thai Pongal is a harvest festival observed by the Tamils, a people who trace their origins to India, but whose population is now widely spread across the world. In particular you will find large populations of Tamils in Southern India, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, South Africa, Singapore and more recently, many immigrants now reside in the UK, New Zealand, Australia and North America. This is a huge population group, with over 70 million people of Tamil descent in the world today. Thai Pongal can alternatively be called the Festival of Tamils.
The celebration has a lot in common with Thanksgiving, although the typical date for the celebration is January 12-15, which corresponds to the beginning of the Thai month. Also, unlike North American Thanksgiving, the celebration of Thai Pongal can last for several days. On the main day, families wake up and dress in new clothes, usually after destroying the old clothes, the day before. It is a time for families to get together, to meet in the evening hours and to relax, shop or even participate in cultural events.
The main meal is actually a breakfast meal, similar to rice pudding and called pongal. It is a combination of rice boiled in milk and jaggery. The cooking of the meal may be conducted by the eldest person in the house, and is sometimes conducted outdoors. Pongal comes from the word pongu, which means “to cook,” but the day isn’t just about cooking this special meal.
In various parts of the world, and particularly in India, special reverence is paid to cattle on this day, which may be painted and decorated for the holiday. Tamils also use the day to pay homage to various harvest gods or goddesses. The specific god who can be thanked for a bountiful harvest is sometimes a sun god, since part of the festival refers to and corresponds to the winter solstice and the birth of spring, which would more exactly be a month earlier.
The month of Thai is always associated with rebirth, and some say it’s a month where anything can happen. It looks forward to a future and on Thai Pongal people look forward to a joyous year and are thankful for the good fortune and abundance they experienced during the harvest. Weddings and various celebrations are often held during Thai, as the month has such a celebratory tone. Notably, Thai Pongal is also a time to forgive quarrels and renew friendships, to celebrate peace and to enjoy family. As with Christmas, many people send greeting cards to others to wish them joy during the holidays.
The celebration of Thai Pongal can be divided into several days. The former is a time when old things, such as old clothes, are discarded. On the second day the families have new clothes and cook the special rice dish. On the third day of Thai Pongal, sometimes called Maattup Pongal, cattle are revered, mainly because it is thanks to their labor that many people produce crops. A fourth day may be called Kaanum Pongal, and it is a day for the blessing of unmarried women (virgins) by the elders.
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