MADURAI, INDIA, January 14, 2006: January marks the month of two festivities in India, Pongal as a harvest festival in Tamil Nadu, and Makar Sankrati honoring the Sun God in Maharashtra and other states. The news release explains, “The annual harvest festival was celebrated in a colorful manner in rural areas where rice milled from newly harvested paddy was used for making sarkarai pongal and offered to the Sun God with sugarcane, symbolizing thanksgiving for the bountiful harvest. In fact, the name of the festival is derived from Pongal, a rice pudding made from freshly harvested rice, milk and jaggery. Sweet rice, known as Pongal, was cooked in a new earthenware pot at the same place where puja was to be performed. Fresh turmeric and ginger were tied around this pot. Then a delicious concoction of rice, Moong Dal, jaggery and milk were boiled in the pot on an open fire. Makar Sankrati was also celebrated in the country as a harvest festival. It is a way of thanksgiving to the elements of nature that help man sustain. In Maharashtra, it is the festival of friendship, a time to celebrate old friendships and to forge new ones. Sweets made from til or sesame seeds and jaggery see huge sales on this day which is distributed among friends and relatives. New brides dress up on the occasion and paid respect to the elders.”
In an effort to promote tourism, foreign tourists were able to participate in the Pongal festival at the Fortune Pandyan Hotel. Thirty teachers from Southern Australia were among the participants in the Pongal festival. Jenny, one to the teachers from Australia, comments, “The great diversity of Indian religious beliefs and the varied traditions of the different States are very interesting and exciting. I loved chanting the Om for it soothes the senses and the soul together.”
See report also http://www.hindu.com/2006/01/14/stories/2006011418680300.htm.