Harvest festivals are celebrated the world over. The gift of land is to be revered and celebrated. The time of these celebrations vary depending on the climatic zone and harvest time. In India, harvest festivals are celebrated in a diverse manner. But they all have one thing in common – the offering of food. A special meal is cooked, usually with a staple crop, usually rice or wheat.
In Coimbatore, like the rest of Tamil Nadu, the second week of January ushers in the Pongal festival that is celebrated over three days. It starts with the offering of the first harvest of the year to the life-nurturing sun on which depends agricultural success. The farm animals are also venerated. They enrich the earth and help the farmer in his pursuits.
This is also a time when parents send a hamper to the home of their married daughter. The goodies include an auspicious mix of goods that represent blessings from the maternal home.
They usually comprise ingredients required for a Pongal feast. From the avarai to be cooked on the first day of Sankaranthi to the yellow pumpkin to be served at lunch, it encompasses all this and more.
The practice of cooking rice in a new mud pot on an open fire not only signifies new and bountiful beginnings but also adds an old world charm to festival. The uncooked grains of rice are cleaned and soaked. The jaggery is prepared, nuts and raisins await a dunking in ghee and the lentils wait, pale and yellow, to be added to the rice. The first rays of light on Pongal morning are welcomed with an offering of this pot of sweet rice or sarkarrai pongal.
The Pongal is cooked in a mud pot. The mouth of the pot is tied with fresh turmeric leaves and bulbs. Decorations of sugarcane and flowers add to the festive air.
Pongal symbolises gratitude for a good harvest and the hope that the coming year will continue to be prosperous. Shouts of pongal o pongal reverberate as the rice and lentil mix overflows the pot. It signifies a prayer that the larders remain full and that one shares the bountiful harvest with those less fortunate.
As children, we waited patiently for the sarkkarai pongal to be cooked after which we all sat down as a family for a sumptuous breakfast of vadai and pongal.
In preparation for Pongal, we spring clean and hang up mango and neem leaves that are said to ward off disease. We symbolically ‘cleanse’ our surroundings for a better tomorrow. By drawing kolams with rice flour we provide sustenance to the tiniest organisms.
The harvest festival plays a nurturing role. We are blessed to be part of such a wealth of wonderful traditions. With the sun’s golden rays above and the fragrant earth below, one cannot help but marvel at Nature’s richness.
Here is a wish for prosperity and contentment from my home to yours.
Read more about food on Shanthini’s website www.pinklemontreerecipes.com
