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The second of the four-day Pongal festivities – known as Surya Pongal or Thai Pongal – is said to be an important day during the harvest festival. As is common to most South Indian traditions that begin during the wee hours of the day, the traditions involving sun worship also begin early on, followed by a sumptuous festive feast and spending time with family. Since sunlight is one of the key factors to necessitate successful yields for crops, the second day is dedicated to appeasing the sun god and pray for his blessings.
Image Credits: IANS
Rituals & Significance
Marking the transition of the sun from the southern to the northern hemisphere, the second day of Pongal is also the beginning of the auspicious Thai maasam or Thai month as per the Hindu calendar. The day, also defined as Uttarayana Punya Kalam – is especially important as Tamilians consider it to be the day they must pray for blessings, prosperity and abundance. Once families wake up and bathe, they dress themselves in new garments and kick off the traditions by bringing freshly harvested rice, milk and jaggery to a roaring boil in earthen pots called Pongal Paanai, believed that when the mixture that boils over, it signifies prosperity. Cheers of ‘Pongalo Pongal’ vibrate in the air when the mixture boils over, as way of wishing well for oneself and those around us.
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This ritual is also symbolic of sweet new beginnings, that is marked by cooking and distributing the sweet rice preparation as soon as the auspicious timing for performing it begins right at sunrise. Decorative patterns, also known as kolam, adorn the porches and front yards of homes and the boiling over of the milk and rice is considered to be a way of giving back to nature. Once the Pongal is ready and offered on banana leaves, the delicacy is also fed to birds besides the community coming together in order to relish it.
Since turmeric is considered to be extremely auspicious to the festival, a pouch called manjal kothu, containing turmeric root is tied to the pot to keep negative energies at bay. An extremely important day for those engaged in the agrarian occupations, the sun is said to infuse life force into crops and make them ripe enough for harvest. Prominent celebrations of the festival in traditional ways can be witnessed in places like Trichy, Madurai, Coimbatore and Tirunelveli, amongst others.
