Pongal Festival (Harvest Festival)

-
Pongal is a harvest festival, celebrated by the people belonging to Hindu faith. On this occasion, people thanks the Sun God for abundant agricultural crops. The festival is most popular in the state of Tamil Nadu in India and in Srilanka.
The harvest festival corresponds to the celebration of Makar Sankranti. Generally, the festival of Pongal and Lohri are celebrated on the same day.
Pongal is a Tamil word means which means ‘overflowing’. This festival signifies good wishes, wealth, abundance and prosperity.
Celebration and Rituals: Pongal Festival is celebrated for four days. The four days of the Pongal festival are known as Bhogi, Surya, Mattu and Kaanum.
Day 1 – Bhogi Pongal: It is celebrated on the first day of the festival. The houses are cleaned and old items are discarded.
Day 2 – Surya Pongal: Surya Pongal, also known as Thai Pongal, is celebrated on the second day of the festival. This day is devoted to Surya Dev (the Sun God). This day is the first day of the Thai month in Tamil calendar.
Day 3 – Mattu Pongal: It is celebrated on the next day of Surya Pongal. This day is also known as ‘Thanksgiving’ day. People play a variety of games on this day. This day is also known as “Kanu Pongal”. On this day, following the custom of ‘Kanu Pidi’, girls and women are seen offering prayers for the well-being of their brothers. They also make sweets and delicious dishes for their brothers.

Day 4 – Kaanum Pongal: The fourth day and the last day of the festival is known as Kannum Pongal. This is a time for re-union of friends and families. The younger people seek blessings of the elders.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Oyilattam a tamil folk dance

-
Image
Oyilattam (meaning: dance of grace) is a folk dance with origins in the Madurai region of Tamil Nadu. The dance has its origins in southern Tamil Nadu and is primarily performed in Madurai district, Tirunelveli district and Tiruchirapalli district. It was traditionally a dance where a few men would stand in a row with two kerchiefs perform rhythmic steps to the musical accompaniment, with the number of dancers increasing; over the past ten years women have also started performing this dance. Typically, the musical accompaniment is the Thavil and the performers have coloured handkerchiefs tied to their fingers and wear ankle bells. Oyilattam is one of the folk arts identified for mainstreaming by the Tamil university. Mainly Oyilattam is performed at village festivals. It is basically describing the great epics like ramayana, mahabaratha and also lord muruga's history.
Read more

Traditional Tamil folk Dance (Thappattam or Parai Attam)

-
Image
Parai Attam, or Thappattam, is a dance in which folks beat Parai and dance to its rhythm. It is one of the oldest traditional dances, originally performed for multiple reasons, ranging from warning people about the upcoming war, requesting the civilians to leave the battlefield, announcing victory or defeat, stopping a breach of water body, gathering farmers for farming activities, warning the wild animals about people's presence, during festivals, wedding, celebrations, worship of nature and so on. Thappu is the name of a rhythmic beat instrument and Thappattam is practiced among the suppressed Dalits classes of the people of the Tamil Nadu. The subtle form of dance accompanied by captivating music, is an ancient rural folk art which is even now popular in urban slum areas in villages.
Read more

Sahitya Akademi Award

-
Image
The   Sahitya Akademi Award   is a literary honor in   India, which the   Sahitya Akademi, India's National Academy of Letters, annually confers on writers of the most outstanding books of literary merit published in any of the major Indian languages recognized by the   Sahitya Akademi . Which was e stablished in 1954, the award comprises a plaque and a cash prize of Rs. 100,000. The award's purpose is to recognize and promote excellence in Indian writing and also acknowledge new trends. The annual process of selecting awardees runs for the preceding twelve months. The plaque awarded by the Sahitya Akademi was designed by the Indian film-maker   Satyajit Ray. Prior to this, the plaque occasionally was made of marble, but this practice was discontinued because of the excessive weight. During the Indo-Pakistan War of 1965, the plaque was substituted with national savings bonds Recipients Tamil Nadu Year Recipient Work Notes 1955
Read more