Pongal Pandigai

Pongal is a festival by the Indian state of Tamil nadu .Tamils refer to pongal as "Tamizhar Tirunal "(meaning 'the festival of Tamils') Traditionally this is celebrated at Harvest time, it is a celebration of the prosperity associated with the harvest by thanking the God of Rain ,Sun, and the farm animals that have helped during cultivation and harvest. This festival is celebrated in a grand manner in villages .Usually this pongal festival is celebrated four days,and it falls on January 12 - 15 every year.

 The four days are called as :
 
1.Bhogi
2.Surya Pongal
3.Maatu Pongal
4.Kaanum Pongal

The first day, Bhogi is celebrated in honour of Lord Indira. On this day all the houses are cleaned and decorated with kolams and they throw away all the old things in the house into a fire made of wood and cowdung.This is like a bonfire, and the girls will dance and sing around the bonfire,praising the Gods for giving them good harvest.

The second Day, Surya Pongal is dedicated to the Sun God.It is the day actually the celebration begins and it is also the first day of the Tamil month "Thai Maasam". In the Villages,people gather in the courtyard and prepare the Pongal Prasadam in the open.They buy new pots for preparring , which is decorated with flowers, Turmeric plant,mongo leavesand they offer sugarcane and pongal to the God of sun. It is a tradition to shout of "Ponggalo Ponggal " and blowing the "Counch (Sangu) " , a custom practiced during the festival to announce it will be a year blessed with good tidings.


The third day of Pongal is dedicated to cattle and is called as Mattu Pongal.

On this day the cattles are washed well and their horns are painted and covered with shinning and multicoloured beads, tinkling bells and flower garlands are tied round the necks.On this day Jallikattu - a Bull festival is held in Madurai, Trichy,Tanjore.Bundles of money are tied to the horns of bulls which the villagers tries to remove it. Whoever removes it will be awarded the money as a prize in winning the competition.

On this day Women offer prayers for the wellbeing of their brothers.The woman perform the ritual before bathing in the morning, they assemble in the courtyard and in the turmeric plant leaf they place the riceballs of Red, Yellow, white, (Rice is mixed with kumkum, manjal, curd respectively and made into small balls.) Sweet pongal, sugarcane and pray for the house and family of their brothers should Prosper.

While praying the God, They tell these lines. :

காக்காய்ப்பிடி வைத்தேன்; கனுப்பிடி வைத்தேன்;காக்காயகளுக்கெல்லாம் கல்யாணம், .காக்காய்களின் கூட்டம் போல எங்கள் குடும்பமும் எல்லோரும் ஒர்றுமையாக வாழ வேண்டும்.

The Fourth day is called as Kannum Pongal. On this day Surya pooja is done by offerring sakarai pongal, sugarcane and coconuts , for getting plentiful harvest in the forthcoming year. All the people on this day travel to see other family members and pay homage to the elders.

THE LEGEND OF PONGAL FESTIVAL :

The first day , Bhoggi has an association with legend of Lord Indra and Lord Krishna. In early days people used to worship Lord Indira, King of the deities.This honor given, made him full of pride and arrogance.When child Krishna came to know about this ,he thought of a plan to teach Indira a lesson. He pursuaded his cowherd friends to worship Mount Govardhana rather than Lord Indira. The angered Lord Indira set forth the clouds to generate non-stop rain, thunder. As per the tale, Krishna lifted the huge Govardhan mountain with his little finger ,to protect the cowherds ,cattle and all the people.

The rain continued for three days and Krishna was protecting all of them continously..and atlast Indira realised his mistake and the divine power of Krishna.Since then Krishna allowed to let the Bhogi celebration continue in honour of Indira.

The third day, Mattu Pongal has an association with the legend of Lord Shiva and his Nandi (Basava), the bull. Lord Shiva asked his bull to go to the earth and deliver his message to the people to have an oil massage and bath daily and to eat food once in a month. Mistakenly Basava announced to have an oil massage and bath once in a month and to eat food daily.Enraged Shiva cursed Basava and said that due to this mistake ther would be lack of grains on Earth. He banished the bull to live on earth forever and help people plough the fields.

Thus, mattu pongal has an association with the cattle. This is how Pongal is being celebrated in Tamilnadu.

Sources : Wikipedia .

Vinayagar Chathruthi

Ganesh Mantra :
"VAKRATUNDA MAHA KAAYA, SURYA KOTI SAMA PRABHA NIRVIGHNAM KURU MEY DEVA, SARVA KARESHU SARVADA"

Vinayagar Chaturthi is a day on which Lord Vinayagar, son of Shiva and Parvathi, is believed to bestow his presence on earth for all his devotees and celebrated as his birthday.Vinayagar ,the elephant - headed , is worshipped as the supreme god of wisdom, prosperity and good fortune. Vinayagar is the God of Learning.He is addressed as "Vignaharta" (remover of obstacles).

The Origin of the festival lies in the holy Hindu scriptures which tell the story :
 
Lord Vinayagar was created by Goddess Parvati.Once Lord Shiva was away at a war Parvati wanted to bathe and having no one to guard the door , conceived of the idea of creating a son who could guard her.Thus Parvathi created Vinayagar out of sandalwood paste that she used for her bath and breathed life into a figure.she then set him to stand guard at her door and instructed him not to let anyone enter.
In the meantime ,Lord Shiva returned from the battle but as Vinayagar did not know him,stopped from entering parvati's chamber. Shiva enraged by Vinayagar's impudence,drew his trident and cut off Vinayagar's head.Parvati came to know that,Vinayagar has been decapitated and flew into a rage.she took on the form of Goddess Kali and threatened destruction to the three worlds of Heaven, Earth and the Subterranean Earth.Parvathi was still in angry mood , the other Gods were afraid and Shiva in an attempt to pacify Parvati,sent out his lieutanants to get the head of the first living thing that was sleeping with its head facing north. As per his orders the lieutenants found an elephant lying with its head facing north.They returned with the head of elephant to Lord Shiva.Shiva joined to Vinayagar's body and breathed life into him.Lord Shiva also announced that he will be worshipped by everyone before any other form of God is favored.And Lord named Ganesha, the Lord of his ganas (A nomadic community). 

Vinayagar Chaturthi Myths:
 
It is considered inauspicious to look at the Moon on Vinayagar Chaturthi .The Legend regarding this is : Lord Ganesha is very much fond of Modak(Kozhakkattai).On one of his Birthday he was going around everyhouse accepting the offerrings of modak. Having eaten enough he set out moving on his mouse at night.Suddenly the mouse stumbled as it haf seen a snake and became frightened ,due to this Ganesha fell down. His stomach burst open and all the modak came out.Ganesha stuffed them back into his stomach and caught hold of the snake and tied it around his belly.seeing all this ,the Moon laughed at Ganesha's gait (A person's manner of walking) .The humiliated Ganesha cursed the Moon,saying that anyone who sees you on the day of chaturthi would

face a false accusation (the act of imputing blame or guilt).

 
Ganesh Chaturthi and Lokmanya Bal Gangadhar Tilak :
 
Tilak,an Indian Nationalist ,Social reformer and freedom fighter reshaped the Ganesh Chathurthi festivals from Private family celebrations into a grand Public event.The festival was not celebrated in a public manner until this time but was a family affair among Hindus.
Tilak Popularised Ganesh chaturthi as a National festival "to bridge the gap between the Brahmins and the non-Brahmins". Tilak was the first to install large public images of Ganesha in Pavilions,and established the practice of submerging all the images .

Puja Rituals :

The festival starts with the installation of statues in colourfully decorated homes and specially erected temporary mantapas in every locality.The offerring to God are Coconut,Jaggery,21 Modaks,blades of grass( Arukampullu) , red flowers.The statue is anointed with red unguent (Semisolid preparation) , typically made of KumKom & Sandalwood paste. On the eleventh day , the statue is take throught he streets in a procession to immerse

in the Sea symbolizing a ritual see - off of the lord in his journey towards his adobe in kailash while taking away with him the misfortunes of his devotees. While coming in procession and immersing him in sea all join together and shout

"Ganapathi Bappa Morya, Purchya Varshi Laukar ya" (O father Ganesha, come again early next year).
Thus Vinayagar Chathurti is celebrated in Tamilnadu and in similar manner it is celebrated in many parts of India and also across the world.The Maximum fervour is witnessed in Maharashtra.

Sources : Wikipedia , http://festivals.iloveindia.com/