Even as appeals and demands to grant permission for conducting Jallikattu are gaining momentum among political circles, bull owners, Jallikattu organisers and bull tamers, mostly in villages resorted to praying seeking divine intervention for the conduct of Jallikattu in January next year.
The bull owners and organisers at Thavasimadai village in Sanarpatti union, congregated before the St. Antony Church on Friday for a special mass on Christmas. They assembled the bulls before the church premises and conducted special prayers.
They also prepared Pongal on the campus with an appeal to State and Central governments to take efforts to conduct Jallikattu next January.
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Earlier, they took out a procession along with aesthetically decorated bulls on the streets. Led by Nattamai Sandiago and Kulandairaj, the villagers participated in the bull procession and in the special prayers.
Sandiago said that Jallikattu had been conducted during the annual church festival for the past four decades. “Our tradition was disrupted owing to the Supreme Court ban only last year. If the government failed to grant permission to conduct Jallikattu, we will observe Pongal festival as black day,” he said. Jallikattu was the major event during the annual festival of St. Antony Church in January.
On December 13, local people and bull owners in and around Pillamanaickanpatti had performed special pujas before Sri Kadhir Narasimhaswamy temple at the village seeking his blessings to get official clearance for conducting Jallikattu. Owners brought the bulls from nearby villages and assembled them before the temple for the puja. They also prepared sweet pongal and offered it to the bulls.
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