Friday, 13 January 2017

Pongal 2017


Pongal 2017: Tamil Harvest Festival, Customs, Traditions,Significance, and Dates

    In Tamil Nadu pongal is an occasion to celebrate ones harvest of rice and other cereals, sugar-cane, and turmeric in the past year and pray for good harvest in the coming years.




 
                                      This year the four-day festival of pongal will begin on January 14. (Indian Express archive)


                        In the mid of January-February pongal is celebrated as a four-day long auspicious harvest festival. In Tamil Nadu its significance is huge. They celebrate their harvest of rice and other cereals, sugar-cane, and turmeric in the past year and pray for good harvest in the coming years.
This year pongal will be celebrated on January 14 onwards. Mid January is significant in the Tamil calendar and in this festival people thank the nature for its virtues. The month of pongal is called Thai in Tamil. According to popular belief people also have faith that pongal will solve their family issues and hence people choose to get married during this month in Tamil Nadu.
The first day of pongal is the Bhogi festival which falls on January 13 this year. A bonfire is lit in the name of Lord Krishna. Old and useless household articles are thrown into the fire which is made of wood and cow dung cakes. People dance and sing around the bonfire praising the Lord Indra for good harvest.








                Second day is devoted to the Sun god and is called Surya Pongal. Rice is boiled in milk in an earthenware and offered to the diety’s idol. Women wake up early to make the kolam, like the rangoli it is designed in every household’s veranda with white lime powder. People wake up early morning for Surya Pongal in villages, they tie a turmeric plant with the bowl of rice that they have boiled. The rice is prepared with dal and sugar and prepared as a dish called Pongal. In many households, husband and wife dispose the ritual utensils together as a customary practice. This is the day when the festival actually begins.



                   Third day is recognised as Mattu Pongal, the pongal for cows. People tie colourful garlands, beads and bells around the neck of the cow and perform puja. Racing with each others cattle is a common tradition and is one of the most awaited ceremonies in the festival of pongal. Aarti is performed in the temples. Thesignificance of the day goes back to a legend in Hindu mythology when Shiva asked his bull Basava to go to earth and declare that mortals should from then on take an oil massage every day and eat once a month. But Basava told the mortals that they should eat daily and take a massage once a month. This angered Shiva and he sent Basava to earth where he was to plough fields for the rest of life and live as a mortal. Hence this day is dedicated to cattle.
The fourth day is called Kannum Pongal. As a custom, women wake up early morning and pray for their husbands. In a turmeric leaf, rice is put in the centre and aarti is performed.


Happy New Year 2017

Happy New Year 2017





                                New Year's Day, also called simply New Year's or New Year, is observed on January 1, the first day of the year on the modernGregorian calendar as well as the Julian calendar. In pre-Christian Rome under the Julian calendar, the day was dedicated to Janus, god of gateways and beginnings, for whom January is also named. As a date in the Gregorian calendar of Christendom, New Year's Day liturgically marked the Feast of the Naming and Circumcision of Jesus, which is still observed as such in the Anglican Church andLutheran Church.[2][3] In present day, with most countries now using the Gregorian calendar as their de facto calendar, New Year's Day is probably the most celebrated public holiday, often observed with fireworks at the stroke of midnight as the new year starts in each time zone. Other global New Years' Day traditions include making New Year's resolutions and calling one's friends and family.

Tuesday, 20 December 2016

News Blogger


  • 500 Rupees

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi has characterized the
demonetization of Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes
as a 'massive cleaning drive'. He expressed pride at the support the demonetization has received despite the inconvenience it has caused. 

PM Modi's remarks were part of a speech he delivered to the
Indian community in Kobe, Japan
. "This is a massive swachhata abhiyaan (cleaning drive)," he declared. "The money that has been looted has to be recovered. And, the rules have to be the same for everyone," he added. 

Peppering his seech with light-hearted quips on the demonetization of the Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes, Modi sought to ease fears that people might lose their savings, "We spent long hours trying to figure out how to minimize the inconvenience. We said no questions would be asked of
deposits of up to two-and-a-half lakh rupees
. Now, even those sons who left their mothers at old-age homes are depositing two-and-a-half lakh rupees in their mother's accounts," he said, to laughter from the crowd.