Pongal Festival 2009

When is Pongal?

Pongal 2009: Pongal festival is on January 15th 2009 this year. This date of the Pongal festival has been derived from the Solar Calendar and it usually celebrated on the same day. Pongal festival is an astronomically and extremely auspicious for Hindus.
Four days of Pongal are celebrated on the followinf days:

• Bhogi Festival is on 13th January : The first day of Pongal is known as Bhogi Pongal
• Pongal : 14th January : The second day is known as Pongal / Thai Pongal / Perum Pongal and it is the most important day.
• Maathu Pongal : 15th January : The third day is known as Maatu Pongal.
• Kaanum Pongal : 16th January : The final day of celebration is known as Kaanum Pongal.

All the above mentioned four days remains same in every year.

Pongal is the most important festival for Tamil. Pongal is an agrarian festival, that is dedicated to Lord Surya (Sun). The reason for Pongal celebration is to wish for the new harvest will bring fortune & prosperity to everyone. Pongal festival celebrated all parts of South India and it is also officially celebrated as Tamil New Year. This festival believed to be the propitious beginning of Uttarayan. In this particular day, Pongal dish is cooked. The Pongal dish is prepared in a new earthen utensils and it is adorned with turmeric leaves, roots and flowers. OPther than that, Rice , Khara, Rava (Suji) and Venn are ver important recipes of Pongal festival.

Here are some Pongal Pictures for all of you:

Makar Sakranti 2009
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Just like every year, Makar Sankranti is on 14th January on Friday in 2009. Makar Sakranti is one of the most auspicious day for all Hindu religion. It is also celebrated with Makar Sakranti. In some respect, Makar Sakranti festival looks like Pongal Festival. The Makar Sakranti festival is also known as "Dahi Chudda", "Til Sankranti", or "Khichri Sankranti", after its main ingredient or preparation. In the same day, Punjabis use to celebrate Lohri festiva by sharing sweets, peanuts and sesame seeds. Sankranti is a Hindi word and it means to move a thing from one place to another place (for changing direction) and Makar means Capricorn. It is the time when the sun changes its direction from one constellation (of the zodiac) to another is known as Sankranti. All age groups use to fly kites from their terris. Tamilians use to call it as Makara Shankranti. It is celebrated all parts of India as a harvest festival.

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