Pongal is a four-days-long harvest festival celebrated in Tamil Nadu, a southern state of India. For as long as people have been planting and gathering food, there has been some form of harvest festival. Pongal, one of the most important popular Hindu festivals of the year.

This four-day festival of thanksgiving to nature takes its name from the Tamil word meaning "to boil" and is held in the month of Thai (January-February) during the season when rice and other cereals, sugar-cane, and turmeric (an essential ingredient in Tamil cooking) are harvested. Mid-January is an important time in the Tamil calendar.

The harvest festival, Pongal, falls typically on the 14th or the 15th of January and is the quintessential 'Tamil Festival'. Pongal is a harvest festival, a traditional occasion for giving thanks to nature, for celebrating the life cycles that give us grain. Tamilians say 'Thai pirandhaal vazhi pirakkum', and believe that knotty family problems will be solved with the advent of the Tamil month Thai that begins on Pongal day. This is traditionally the month of weddings. This is not a surprise in a largely agricultural community - the riches gained from a good harvest form the economic basis for expensive family occasions like weddings.

Pongal Celebrations
The First Day - Bhogi Pongal
The first day od pongal is celebrated as the Bhogi Pongal and is usually meant for domestic activities and of being together with the family members. This first day is celebrated in honour of Lord Indra, the supreme ruler of clouds that give rains. Another ritual observed on this day is Bhogi Mantalu, when useless household articles are thrown into a fire made of wood and cow-dung cakes. Girls dance around the bonfire, singing songs in praise of the gods, the spring and the harvest.

The Second Day - Surya Pongal
The second day of harvest festival is known as 'Pongal', in tamionadu, the most important day of the entire festival, where prayers are offered to the Sun. On this day, the Sun is given great importance. On the morning of this day, the family will gather outside their houses and cook 'pongal' in clay pots. When the rice inside the pot overflows, the people will cry out 'Pongal O Pongal' and pray to the Sun. The overflow of rice symbolizes a prosperous farming season for them. On this auspicious day, people will visit each other and dine. Sweets are also cooked in the Hindus homes for the guests.

The Third Day - Mattu Pongal
The third day is known as Mattu Pongal, the day of Pongal for cows. To the village people cow, the giver of milk and the bull which draws the plough in the fields are very valuable and therefore the farmers honour their dumb friends by celebrating it as a day of thanks-giving to them. The cattle are washed, their horns are painted and covered with shining metal caps.

The Fourth Day - Kaanum Pongal
Kanu Pongal, which falls on the same day as Maatu Pongal, is celebrated by sisters for the welfare of their brothers. Pongal or Harvest festival of Tamilnadu is reminiscent of Raksha Bandhan and Bhai Dooj of North India.

Pongal Kolams
When it's the time for Pongal festivity celebration, almost all the houses in the entire South India are adorned with beautiful colorful Kolams. Elaborate designs are drawn using white and other color powders. The tradition of Kolam making is not new. Infact, it can be traced back to the times of the Indus Valley Civilization (2500 B.C).