Learning about festivals it’s tradition helps kids to connect well with their roots.
Pongal is a festival when we thank Farmers who work hard in fields so we can have our meals. Time of the year when we think about their hard work, without their presence we can’t have have tasty meals in our homes.
Significance of Four days of Pongal festival:
Day 1 : Bhogi – Last day of Margazhi month, a day when people discard old and useless household items from their house and throw them in the fire created by burning wood and cow dung cakes. It usually symbolises with getting rid of old and negative things from your life and start fresh.
Day 2: Pongal – Ulavar Thirunal is celebrated in a traditional way. A festival when we thank Sun God, for blessing everyone with abundant harvest for this season. The Pongal pot is decorated by tying a turmeric plant or flower garland, and near the cooking stove are placed two or more tall fresh sugarcane stalks.
Day 3: Mattu Pongal – Mattu Pongal, cattle are decorated with paints in their horns, kunkumam on forehead , with flower garlands in their neck. Cattle are offered bananas, a special meal and worshipped. This way we thank cow and other farm animals who helped farmers to plough fields.
Day 4 : Kannum Pongal – A day when we visit friends, families and visit places , spending time together.
It’s true that the way of celebrating Pongal is much different in cities than the traditional way which happens in villages. This doesn’t mean tradition or culture is lost. Rather it’s a day to teach kids on how celebration happens back home. This way they get more idea , details about how festival is celebrated, due to which practices are not lost.
We did this pretend and play craft to replicate how festival is celebrate back in roots.