Pongal celebrations 2014 at Tamil Nadu House, New Delhi.

Pongal is a harvest festival celebrated by Tamil people at the end of the harvest season. Pongal is a four day festival which usually takes place from January 13 to 16 in the Gregorian calendar i.e., the last day of the Tamil month Maargazhi to the third day of Tamil month Thai.

It is one of the most important festivals celebrated by the Tamil people in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, the Indian Union Territory of Puducherry and Sri Lanka.

In Tamil, the word Pongal means "overflowing" which signifies abundance and prosperity. On the day of Pongal, at the time of sun rise there is a symbolic ritual of boiling fresh milk in a new clay pots and when the milk boils over and bubbles out of the vessel, people shout "Pongalo Pongal!". The saying "Thai Pirandhal Vazhi Pirakkum" meaning "the commencement of Thai paves the way for new opportunities" is often quoted regarding the Pongal festival. Thai Pongal is mainly celebrated to convey the appreciation and thankfulness to the Sun as it act as the primary energy behind agriculture and a good harvest. It is the Surya Mangalyam. Tamilians decorate their homes with banana and mango leaves and embellish the floor with decorative patterns drawn using rice flour.

Sakarai pongal (lit. sugar pongal) is generally prepared in temples as a prasadam, (an offering made to a deity, as a thanksgiving). This type of pongal is prevalent in Pongal festivals in Tamil Nadu, India.

Ingredients can include rice, coconut and mung bean. Sakarai pongal is traditionally sweetened with jaggery, which gives the pongal a brown colour, though it can be sweetened with white sugar instead. .

Pongal is a popular rice dish in all South Indian states, and Tamil-speaking areas of Sri Lanka. Pongal is common in Tamil cuisine. In dravidian languages the root word pong or pongu means to " boil over" or "spill over". There are two varieties of pongal, namely, sakarai pongal(Tamizh) or chakkera pongali (Telugu) which is a sweet and the other variety isven pongal (Tamizh) or nethi Pongali (Telugu) which is made from scarified butter. The unqualified word pongal usually refers to spicy pongal, and is a common breakfast food in several parts of India. The rice boiled with milk and jaggery during the Pongal festival is also called pongal - this is sweet pongal made specially in earthenware pots with a wood fire.

Source - Wikipedia

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