What Pongal means to the Hindus of South India

Christmas and Thanksgiving all rolled into one huge four day celebration – that’s the Tamil festival of Pongal!

Christmas is the celebration of the birth of the son, Pongal is the celebration of the birth of the sun. And it falls close to the time of the Orthodox Christian holiday. Latitude makes January 15th South India’s winter equinox where the sun enters the 10th house of Capricorn.

Since on this day the path of the sun makes the daylight hours increase gradually day by day, this festival is full of esoteric meanings as well as food, mirth, and friends.

To get an idea of how Pongal feels, go to a country farm real early in the morning while it is still dark. Sit in an area where you can see the sun slowly rise in the sky.

Watch as the sky slowly lights up and the sun spreads its rays in many splendored colors extending over the heavens. Your ears take notice of the birds chirping and all the animals a-stirring.

And as you see the grain fields opened out before you the appear alive and full of consciousness and to stretch out and greet the cool morning air and fill it with its fragrance.

Now you know why Hindus feel such optimism and excitement to start their most important projects at this time. It is a time when the world feels like it is overflowing.

Overflowing – the English translation of the word “pongal.”

The world appears to be flowing with many gifts and so many possibilities as if holding them in millions of arms and hands shining forth just ready to give them to you.

It’s a fresh start. The past was yesterday, today is a brand new day full of promise.

And this is why Hindus have such a feeling of gratitude and give thanks during this season for the many gifts already given. They give thanksgiving to nature for the rains and and the fresh harvest, to the cow and to all the other animals. The Hindus also thank the house for providing shelter and even their car for being their vahana or transport.

But in this Hindu Thanksgiving, instead of eating turkey as they do in America, being a harvest festival Hindus have a dish of grain and legumes fresh from their harvest and cooked with cow’s ghee. They call this dish pongal.