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Wishing you all my dear Respected Friends with a Very Happy Republic Day !!

Vandemaataram

JanagaNamaNa

SatyamEvajayatE

Jaihind

Sri Panchami

Vasant Panchami is the Hindu festival that highlights the coming of spring. This festival is usually celebrated in Magh, which is between the months of January and February in Georgian calendar. It is celebrated in countries such as India.

What Do People Do?

Vasant Panchami is a famous festival that marks the end of the winter season and ushers in the springtime. Sarasvati is the Hindu goddess of the Vasant Panchami festival. Young girls wear bright yellow dresses and participate in the festivities. The color yellow holds a special meaning for this celebration as it signifies the brilliance of nature and the vibrancy of life. The whole place bursts with yellow during the festival.

People dress in yellow and they offer yellow flowers to others and to the gods and goddesses.  They also prepare and feast on a special pastry called kesar halwa or kesar halva, which is made from flour, sugar, nuts, and cardamom powder. This dish also includes saffron strands, which gives it a vibrant yellow color and mild fragrance.  During the Vasant Panchami festival, India’s crop fields are filled with the color yellow, as the yellow mustard flowers bloom at this time of the year. Pens, notebooks, and pencils are placed near the goddess Devi's feet to be blessed before they are used by students.

Public Life

Vasant Panchami is a public holiday. Government offices, schools, colleges do not operate on the day. However, at the same time, private offices are operational. Public transport also operates throughout the day but there is heavy traffic congestion during to processions at various places.

Background

The celebration of the Vasant Panchami is centered on the Hindu goddess Sarasvati. Sarasvati is the goddess of wisdom. She embodies the different facets of learning such as the sciences, arts, crafts and skills.  She is said to be calm and collected. She is often pictured seated on a lotus or a peacock, wearing a white dress.

Symbols

The Goddess Saraswati is the goddess of intellect and learning. She has four hands which symbolize ego, intellect, alertness and the mind. She carries a lotus and scriptures in two of her hands and she plays music on the veena (an instrument similar to a sitar) with her other two hands. She rides on a white swan. Her white dress is a symbol for purity. Her swan signifies that people should have the ability to discern the good from the bad.

The goddess Saraswati, sitting on a lotus, symbolizes her wisdom.  She is also well-versed in the experience of truth.  When the goddess is seen sitting on a peacock, it is a reminder that a strong ego can be held back by wisdom.

Maagha Month begins from 1/18/2018

Kanum Pongal

The fourth day of the three-day Pongal celebrations is called Kaanum Pongal. In few places this day is also known as Karinaal or Thiruvalluvar Day. It is dedicated to the sun god, Surya and has its roots in ancient Brahminical tradition. Since Pongal is a rural, agrarian based festival that celebrates the harvests, the sun is a vital part of the proceedings. This is because the Sun is the symbol of life on Earth. Without the Sun, crops cannot sprout and grow. Without the Sun, harvests will not be plentiful.

Surya Puja

On Kaanum Pongal, elaborate powdered chalk designs of the sun god, Surya are drawn. As soon as the auspicious month of Thai is underway, Surya is worshiped. Sheaves of sugarcane dot the prayer area. Freshly cooked food including the typical sweet dish 'Sarkarai pongal' is first offered to Surya. Sugarcane that is offered is symbolic for sweetness and happiness in life. Sugarcane stalks and coconut- both auspicious symbols of plenty- are also offered to the Gods in propitiation of a plentiful harvest in the forthcoming year.

Customs & Rituals

This day is very similar to Rakhsa Bandhan and Bhai Dhuj in that it is predominantly a festival where women offer prayers for the wellbeing of their brothers. The women perform this ritual before bathing in the morning. All the women, young and old, of the house, assemble in the courtyard. The rice is placed in the centre of the leaf, while the women ask that the house and family of their brothers should prosper. Arati is performed for the brothers with turmeric water, limestone and rice, and this water is sprinkled on the kolam in front of the house.

Celebration

On this day, people travel to see other family members and the younger members of the family pay homage to the elders, and the elders thank them by giving token money. Another thing many do is leave food out on banana leaves for birds to take. Many South Indian people take the first bit of rice cooked in any given day and set it outside for the crows to take, so this is not necessarily a habit only for Pongal. Some also go to temple to worship and thank god for all good things that are bestowed on them.

Mattu Pongal

The third day of Pongal is dedicated to cattle and is called Mattu Pongal. People offer prayers to the bulls, cows and other farm animals. Cows and bulls have always held a special place in India. Cows give nourishing milk while bulls and oxen help plough the fields. Thus, Maatu Pongal is a day when cattle are given a well deserved day of rest and are given pride of place. Therefore the farmers honor their cattle friends by celebrating it as a day of thanks-giving to them.

Legend

On this day, Lord Ganesh and Goddess Parvati are worshiped and Pongal is offered to them in the 'puja'. According to a legend, once Shiva asked his bull, Basava, to go to the earth and ask the mortals to have an oil massage and bath every day and to eat once a month. Inadvertently, Basava announced that everyone should eat daily and have an oil bath once a month. This mistake enraged Shiva who then cursed Basava, banishing him to live on the earth forever. He would have to plough the fields and help people produce more food. Thus the association of this day with cattle.

Puja Process

The cattle are washed, their horns are painted and covered with shining metal caps. Multi-colored beads, tinkling bells, sheaves of corn and flower garlands are tied around their necks. They are fed with Pongal and taken to the village centres. Devotees pay their respect to cows by bending down, like praying in temple, and touching their feet and foreheads, followed by an aarthi (showing fire to the object of praise) and offering the cattle prasadam (food offering, in this case, Pongal).

Jallikattu- A Bull Festival

A festival called Jallikattu is held in Madurai, Tiruchirapalli and Tanjavur on this day. Bundles of money are tied to the horns of ferocious bulls which the villagers try to retrieve. Everyone joins in the community meal, at which the food is made of the freshly harvested grain. This day is named and celebrated as Tamizhar Tirunal in a fitting manner throughout Tamil Nadu.

Surya Pongal

The second day of Pongal is known as 'Surya Pongal' and is dedicated to the Sun God. It is the day on which the celebration actually begins and is also the first day of the Tamil month Thai. On this day the granaries are full, the sun shines brightly, trees are in full bloom, bird-songs resound in the air and hearts overflow with happiness that get translated into colorful and joyous celebrations.

Puja Preparation

Women wake early on this day to create elaborate 'kolam' on the grounds in front of their doorway or home. Kolam is created with colored rice flour placed on the ground carefully by using one's hand. The women take several hours to finish the kolum. On this day the new rice is collected and cooked in pots until they over flow. It is this overflowing which means Pongal. This overflowing of rice is a joyous occasion, and the children and adults as well will shout out 'Pongal-o-Pongal!'

Surya Pongal Puja Process

The Sun God is offered boiled milk and jaggery. A plank is placed on the ground, a large image of the Sun God is sketched on it and Kolam designs are drawn around it. In the centre of the plank is drawn a large figure of the Sun God with his effulgent rays. The "Puja" of the Sun God starts after the auspicious moment of the birth of the new month Thai. Prayers are rendered to the Sun God to seek his benedictions.

The Sun God is given pride of place during Pongal. In the villages, people gather in the courtyard and prepare the Pongal in the open. The pot in which the Pongal is cooked is decorated with flowers, sugarcane pieces, turmeric plant etc. The first offering is made to the Sun.

Surya Pongal Delicacies

The rice is cooked and prepared as a dish called Pongal which is rice with dhal and sugar. This Pongal variety is called venpongal,ven meaning white. Another variety is also prepared with dhal and jaggery (sweet), called chakra pongal chakrai meaning sweet. To accompany the venpongal, people eat brinjal (eggplant) sambar (stew), vadai,idli and spicy accompaniments.

Sweets, puddings, cooked rice or 'Sarkarai Pongal' are prepared on this day. On all the three days of Bhogi, Pongal and Maattu Pongal, women adorn the entrance of their houses with colorful kolams. Large patterns, decorated with colorful flowers and powders are drawn, crowding the entire street

When is Pongal Celebrated?

When is Pongal Celebrated?

 Pongal on January 14, 2018, Sunday

Pongal is celebrated in the month of January after the winter solstice. The date of Pongal usually remains same as it is reckoned according to the solar calendar that is more accurate than the lunar calendar. For Hindus the date of Pongal is extremely auspicious as it marks the sun's entry into Makaram Rashi or the Tropic of Capricorn from the Tropic of Cancer. On this day sun begins its journey northwards (Uttarayan) for a period of six months as opposed to southwards (Dakshinayan) movement. It is this fascinating and auspicious astronomical event that is celebrated as Pongal in South India and Makar Sankranti in North and Central India.

Pongal festival is celebrated for four continuous days beginning from the last day of Tamil month of Maargazhi (December-January) and lasting upto the third day of Thai. The second and the main day of Pongal called Surya Pongal marks the beginning of Tamil month of Thai that corresponds to the month of January - February according to the Gregorian calendar.

Pongal brings respite to the people as it marks the end of cold winter and the advent of spring. From this time onwards the length of the day increases and that of the night shortens in the Northern Hemisphere.

Following are the date on which the four days of Pongal will be celebrated in 2018:

Bhogi Festival : 13th January

Surya Pongal : 16 January

Maatu Pongal : 15th January

Kaanum Pongal: 16th January

Note: Dates of Celebration may varies in different Time Zones.

Bhogi

Bhogi festival or Bhogi is the first day of Pongal and is celebrated in honor of Lord Indra, "the God of Clouds and Rains". Lord Indra is worshiped for the abundance of harvest, thereby bringing plenty and prosperity to the land. Thus, this day is also known as Indran. On Bhogi all
people clean out their homes from top to bottom, and collect all unwanted goods. This day is meant for domestic activities and of being together with the family members.

All the houses from the richest to the humblest are thoroughly scrubbed and whitewashed. Homes are cleaned and decorated with "Kolam" - floor designs drawn in the white paste of newly harvested rice with outlines of red mud. Often pumpkin flowers are set into cow-dung balls and placed among the patterns. Fresh harvest of rice, turmeric and sugarcane is brought in from the field as preparation for the following day.

Puja

A special puja is performed on the first day of Pongal before the cutting of paddy. Farmers worship the sun and the earth by anointing their ploughs and sickles with sandalwood paste. It is with these consecrated tools that the newly-harvested rice is cut.

The Bonfire

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 significance of the bonfire, in which is burnt the agricultural wastes and firewood is to keep warm during the last lap of winter.

In Andhra Pradesh this day is celebrated by girls burning their old clothes and wearing the new ones after an oil massage and bath. Then follows Pongal Panai, a ritual in which new earthenware pots are painted and decorated with turmeric, flowers and mango leaves.

Wishing you all a Very Happy Bhogi Festival wishes !!

మన భాష ,మన సాంప్రదాయం ~ Our Language ,Our Tradition ,Culture

Pongal Celebrations

Hello all my dear respected friends,followers of this blog.Everyone are having their own language to communicate and Customs & Tradition to celebrate all around the world.

So,I would like to welcome all of you to share your languages, how rituals are followed,each and everything from our fore-fathers,ancestors.

Best source always comes useful information from our own family than any source.Periods,Stages may change but following our elders never change even we are near & far away.

Every one Respect our bonded values.

Within few days a very Big-festival is coming up all around the world .Specially ,all my followers are requested to share your opinions about " PONGAL"

Coming to the Festival a small participation is open for all ages children from ages 6 years to age 16.

Few Topics:

1. Pongal
2. Farmer
3. Kites
4. Food
5. Traditions
6. Rangoli/Kolam/Muggu
7. Celebrations.
8. Songs & Poems
9. Festival Recipes
10. Decorations

Also many more too ,to particiapte  for this Big Big Festival.

Share with your friends,let them encourage to participate ,if no time you can send your tasks to blog e-mail.

Wishing you all to participate !!!

Thank you all,

Divya Chevuri

Congratulations & Celebrations!!

Hi all,

I would like to share my daughter's achievement today's award at her school .She stood for "Principal Round Up".

We all as a family members,friends are very glad to see her on stage.

Big Big hand...

Claps Claps 

Wishing her to achieve more success in her life going forward.

Keep going Sai Samanvitha Chevuri.

Happy English New Year 2018

Wishing You all a Very Happy New year 2018 .

Good day , Good Date , Good Month, Good year should brings us always good in everyone's Life .

Have a good year good  wishes to all Family members ,Friends, followers.

Thanks to English Language 

Thanks to English New Year 

Thanks to English people 

Thanks to English hours

Thanks to English Artists

Thanks to English Learners 

Thanks to English medium

Thanks to English Men

Thanks to all who can read , Write , Speak , understand English.

Thanks to English stories , Morals & Authors

Thanks to my English Friends 

Thanks to my English Teachers.

2017 big hit in My English Grammar than English Glamour.