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Meaning Of Pongal |
Pongal is celebrated in the southern part of India but mainly by people of Tamil Nadu. It is a festival of harvesting for Tamils. Pongal is celebrated to pay a tribute to Sun, for abundant crop yield. It is a festival of thanksgiving to the sun and farm animals for the high yield of crops. This festival of Pongal is celebrated for four days in Tamil Nadu. The first day is Bhogi that is celebrated by removing all the old garments and materials by setting them on fire as it marks the ending of the previous and beginning of the new.
The second day is the Pongal day and is the main day. Celebrations of the Pongal day mainly involve boiling of rice with clean milk and jaggery in the morning and letting it flow over the vessel, as this tradition gives the name to the Pongal festival. As the rice boils and flows out of the vessel, it is then presented to the Surya God, a symbol of thanksgiving to the sun for providing wealth.
The third day of the pongal celebrations is the Maattu Pongal; to offer thanks to farm animals like cattle because they provide them with milk and help to plough lands.
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Kaanum Pongal is the final day of the pongal celebrations and meaning of kaanum is 'to view'. People are found chewing sugarcane and decorating their houses with kolam during the Pongal period.
A lot of preparations are done beforehand to celebrate this festival. Houses are cleaned just before the festival. People dress themselves in new clothes; females wear Lehanga and sari and men wear lungi and angavastram. People make sweets, visit all their near and dear ones and exchange greetings. Delicious Pongal dishes are cooked on this festival and some of the common dishes made during the Pongal days are Dosa and Sambhar, Sarkarai Pongal, Ven Pongal, Vada and Payasam.
People celebrate all the days of pongal in the best way so that they can remember the Pongal celebrations till the next Pongal.
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