Happy Pongal!

This week we had four days off school to celebrate the Tamilian harvest festival Pongal! Pongal celebrates the blessings from the sun, cows and elders over three days. Let’s check it out!

Location: 
Vellore, Tamil Nadu, India

Photos

A popular treat during Pongal is sugarcane like this, which you have peel with your teeth or with a huge knife
I visited the Yelagiri Hills for the Mattu Pongal pooja (poo-jah), which involves bringing all of the town’s cows together and giving them offerings
Each extended family in the town has their its own pen where they bring their decorated cows to give them pongal and participate in the pooja (poo-jah) (religious ceremony)
Here you can see the pongal pots where families were preparing the food for their cows while, in the fields, some kids were celebrating with fireworks
The priests and devotees brought blessed paint to each family’s pen so that the family could put the blessed paint on each of their cows
Aunty and Uncle were wonderful hosts and helped us explore and better understand the celebrations
At the end of Pongal, gifts are placed at the top of this bamboo pole and then the pole is covered in oil. If you can still climb the pole with the oil, you get to keep the gifts
On the last day of Pongal, you receive blessing from the elders in your family. My host parents gave me blessings for a happy and healthy life and for a good life partner

Pages

Videos