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The Pongal festival is set to start on January 15, which marks the last day of the Tamil month called 'Marghazi'. The first day of the festival is called Bhogi Pongal. The festival is observed over the span of 4 days in the state.
The first day of the festival is called the Bhogi festival, the second day is called Thai Pongal; the third day is called Mattu Pongal; the fourth day is called Kaanum Pongal. The winter harvest festival, is celebrated across Tamil Nadu with pomp and show. The celebrations, associated with the sun, is celebrated by making colourful Kolams and preparing traditional food in Tamil Nadu. The word 'Pongal' in Tamil means to 'to boil', it is also the name of a sweet dish made out of boiled rice, moong dal, milk and jaggery, which is prepared specially to mark the harvest festival. The festival celebrates the harvesting of crops including sugarcane, rice and turmeric and falls around the same time as Lohri and Makar Sankranti in mid-January each year. It is essentially a thanksgiving festival, wherein farmers thank the nature, the Sun God and the farm animals for helping in the productions of crops, while other people thank the farmers for producing the crops. Women from various communities in Coimbatore were seen celebrating the Pongal festival on Friday. Women who belong to various communities were seen celebrating the festival in a temple where a priest is seen offering prayers to the lord. Coimbatore district collector Sameeran was seen dancing with the villagers at Vadachirhoor village on the outskirts of Coimbatore. (ANI)
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