Makara-sankrānti ( Thaiponggal ) is a harvest festival dedicated to the worship of the sun . It falls on the first day of Pausha . Since this festival depends on the movement of the sun , it always falls on the fourteenth January . Because the sun starts moving towards the northern hemisphere on this day , this festival is also known as Uttarāyana .
This day marks the successful harvest of the crops . A special pūjā is offered to the sun deity , because of whose warmth and blessings , crops can be harvested harvested . In Tamil Nadu , the festival is called Pongal . Every family on this day cooks rice with milk and jiggery in a decorated pot and lets the cooked rice spill over , a sign of prosperity . Mothers present their daughters with Pongal gifts . The next day after Makara-sankrānti is celebrated with the worship of cows . Cows are decorated and fed well on this day . In the Vedic culture , the cow is considered highly sacred and it is worshipped in a ceremony called gopūjā before any big rituals or pūjās . On this day , farmers worship their farming implements and bullock carts .
In Maharashtra , people exchange til-laddus , sweets made of sesame seeds and exchange greetings on Makara-sankrānti . In Gujarat , this day is known as Uttaran and is marked by kite-flying . In many states , people prepare a dish known as pacchadi . Its chief ingredients are green mangoes , which are sweet and sour , jaggery , which are sweet and margosa (neem) flowers which are bitter . Pacchadi is eaten on this day to remind oneself of the mixture of joy and sorrow that life brings to everyone .
Arsha Vidya Nilayam , Malaysia wish everyone a blessed and prosperous Ponggal (Sankrānti) celebration . May all of us attain the four-fold purushartas : dharma , artha , kama and moksha . May Isvara's grace be upon all of us always .
Om Tat Sat .
No comments:
Post a Comment