Pongal

Pongal is a four day harvest festival celebrated in India, beginning on January 13th or 14th. The word Pongal means “overflowing” and “abundance”. It's celebrated as a shift in the season- the end of winter- the day on which the sun begins to move northwards. 

The sun is a symbol of wisdom, divine knowledge and spiritual light, and as it turns on its northward course, it turns towards us and blesses us with life and energy.

Each day of Pongal has a slightly different focus and theme. Today is called Bhogi Pongal, which means "enjoy abundance"; it's a day to honor the rain god, Indra, for providing rain for the harvest.

On Bhogi, farmers anoint their plows and sickles with sandalwood paste to bless them, then bring in the fresh harvest of rice and sugar cane. Everyone cleans house and clears out unneeded stuff to make way for the new. They burn and get rid of old household items and clothing, and buy new household items. After the house is clean, women decorate their courtyards with rangoli designs made with rice flour.

The second day is called Surya Pongal, named for the sun god, Lord Surya. On this day people cook sweet rice in a clay pot at sunrise; the pongal pot is the main attraction- it is decorated, and set up on the kitchen floor or in the front yard, with decorations surrounding it and the cooking fire. Everyone watches as the rice cooks and the moment the rice bubbles out of the clay pot, someone rings a bell, and everyone shouts "Pongalo-o-o-o Pongal!" The boiling over symbolizes good luck and prosperity for the family.

The third day is Mattu Pongal, focusing on the cattle who pull the plows. (Mattu means "cow".) The cows are cleaned, decorated and fed treats.

The fourth day is Kanum Pongal. Kanum means "to view": It's a day to visit friends and family.

Agenda for Pongal:

1. Housecleaning:

Like many 'change of season' festivals, cleaning and clearing is a theme for Pongal. I’ve been doing some deeper cleaning this month, with a focus on mold, and this week I cleaned the living room:

• Dusted the furniture and the corners.
• Scrubbed the mold off the windowsills with detergent and warm water, then used a solution of ¼-cup bleach in 1-quart water. Waited 20 minutes and repeated. Waited another 20 minutes. Applied Borax solution and did not rinse, to help prevent mold from growing again.
• Vacuumed the sofa and around the sofa.

Also, I gathered a bag of old boots and clothing to donate to the thrift store, and a few things to burn. I don't want to burn items that are still useful, so I've collected some old wood and junk mail for the fire.

2. Have a Fire:
The Bhogi fire is, of course, symbolic. Tomorrow the sun shifts to bring us wisdom, life, and energy, and so today we will sacrifice our ignorance, delusions, bad habits, attachments, and vices on the fire. 

My students wrote down the things they wanted to clear from their lives-- pollution, sadness, racism-- then we started a small fire in the fire pit, and tossed in our words.

We made a rangoli on red paper to surround our hotplate.

3. Paint a rangoli:

Women paint new rangoli designs each day for Pongal, onto the floor or the ground outside. Rangoli painting is an art handed down from mother to daughter in all parts of India. The artist uses very simple materials- rice flour, natural colors, and her fingers. In some places, women paint new designs each morning outside the doorway of the house, to protect those who come and go. In India rice flour is thought to have protective power.



Rangoli are ephemeral art- they are meant to be walked on and not to be kept. We made a large rangoli on a piece of paper on the floor, but we also decided to make small designs on matboard with glue, so we could keep them.

Supplies:

• small pieces of matboard
• chalk or pastels
• designs (see this site for some nice rangoli designs)
• rice flour, white or colored
• tacky craft  glue
• cotton swabs or glue brushes
• paper or foam plates

White rice flour is fine, but many rangoli are colorful. I suppose you can buy colored rice flour in India, but I made my own with food color; I just added spoonfuls of food color to a cup of rice flour and mashed it in with a fork.

1. Draw your design onto the matboard with oil pastels.

2. Spread a little glue on your designs with a cotton swap or brush.

3. Carefully sprinkled rice flour over the designs, and shake off the excess onto a plate.

4. Pongal Paanai (Sweet Rice):The Pongal rice is central to this holiday. You can make the rice on the stove in the usual manner, but if at all possible, try to experience the "overflowing" that gives Pongal its name.

For the Pongal ceremony, in addition to the food ingredients, you will need a bell and / or a conch shell.

Ingredients:

• 1 c. water
• 2 c. milk
• 1 c. white Basmati rice
• 1/4-c. moong dal (yellow lentils) 
• 1/4 c. dark brown sugar
• 2 tsp. molasses
• 1/2 c. water
• 1/2 tsp. cardamom powder

1- Wash the rice and moong dal. Put water, milk, rice and moong dal into a pot and begin to simmer. 

Waiting for the rice to boil over, so we can ring bells!

We set up a hot plate on the floor, and that's where we cooked our rice. 


2- Heat to a rolling boil, stirring occasionally. 

Watch carefully: As it rises up to boil over, allow it to slightly overflow, ring a bell and yell “Pongal-o-o-o pongal!”

The overflowing of the rice symbolizes good luck and prosperity.

3-  Reduce the heat and continue to cook, stirring frequently, until thick and soft. 


4- Meanwhile, in another pot, melt brown sugar, molasses, and 1/2 c. water. Bring to a rolling boil, reduce the heat, and simmer for about 5 minutes. Turn off the heat. Let the syrup cool a bit- it should be very sticky.

Just about ready to eat now.

5-  Add the syrup to the cooked rice-dal. Stir in cardamom. Simmer on medium, stirring constantly, until the whole mixture comes together into a sticky, gooey mass. Turn off the heat and let it sit for 10 minutes, covered. It will thicken further as it cools.

6-  To serve, mound into bowls and sprinkle with roasted cashews.

5. Surya Mantra:
A mantra is a phrase which is repeated as a prayer. I will chant this mantra tomorrow:
Om Hrim Sum Suryaya Namaha
(pronounced "Om Hreem Soom Soor-yah-yah Nahm-ah-ha")
which means: “Om and salutations to Surya, the bringer of clarity and dispeller of darkness”. 

For a longer explanation see this site.