Celebrating Pongal: A guest post by my father

The Pongal dish made by my mother this year, and served with coconut chutney, sambar, and vadas. The guest post below was written by my father.

 “The greatest wealth is to live content with what we have” – Thiruvalluvar, Tamil poet and philosopher

My memories of the Pongal festival goes back to the late 1950’s, growing up in the southern Indian city of Madurai in the state of Tamilnadu (formerly Madras). Pongal is a harvest festival celebrating the abundance of crop, and to recognize everyone who contributed to the bounties. 

The primary agricultural products are rice and sugar cane along with cow’s milk, coconut and clarified butter (ghee) – so these are, expectedly, the focus of the festival. Pongal is also the name of the ceremonial dish that is cooked with these products and was traditionally prepared in an earthen pot on a wood burning stove. 

The word Pongal means ‘boiling over’ in my native language of Tamil and signifies ‘abundance that runneth over’. This is physically represented by the literal boiling over of the Pongal cooking in the pot. 

While the main theme of Pongal is celebrating the bounty of agricultural crops, on the first day of Pongal, called Bhogi, people clean their houses and decorate the houses with flowers, Old possessions are discarded for new stuff – symbolizing the renewal of life itself. The second day is dedicated to Surya (Sun) the giver of energy and life and the end of winter reminding us the northward journey of the Sun – (uttarayana) or the winter solstice. 

The third day of Pongal is dedicated to maadu (cow) and to recognize them for all their contributions to agriculture and humanity. The cows and calves are bathed and decorated with flowers and their horns are colorfully painted. They are also fed with ‘Pongal’ dish and sugar cane. I remember these acts increasing the bonds with the household livestock and in developing compassion towards other beings. 

Of course, other members of the household livestock e.g. chicken were also part of the festivities. The fourth day of Pongal (Kanum Pongal) – kanum literally meaning ‘seeing’ in Tamil i.e. meeting with friends and family to strengthen to appreciate their respective hard work that no doubt was intended to increase the bondage and spirit of community. It was also the day we remembered the downtrodden in the society by sharing the meals.

Pongal festival reminds me of the importance of recognizing fruits of labor and hardships, respecting nature and fellow humans and above all it reminds me of the ancient Tamil poet and philosopher, Thiruvalluvar  who told us that “The greatest wealth is to live content with what we have” and “ True happiness is found in giving away and not in keeping”.