Malaysian Festivals

Thai Pongal. Thai, the first month of the Tamil Almanac, beginning on January 13/14. Pongol, a dish of sweet concoction of rice, Moong Dal, jaggery and milk.



Thai Pongal, the merriest and may be, the most popular Hindu festival of India and Sri Lanka, a harvest festival and a feast of thanksgiving to the Sun God, the God known to all the living, and the giver of plentiful harvest. In India where the majority are farmers, this rural festival is the celebration of the withdrawal of Southeast Monsoons and reaping of a joyful harvest.



Pongal has many legends. The most popular is that Lord Krishna lifted the Govardhan Mountain on his little finger to save his people from being washed away by the rains and floods. Another says that Lord Shiva asked his bull, Nandi, to go to earth and tell the people to have an oil bath daily and have food once a month. But, Nandi got it all mixed up and told the people to eat daily and bathe monthly.

Shiva was annoyed and said,"Now that people need to eat more, you stay on earth and help them plough the fields more!" Thai Pongal is family-oriented and the day begins with the boiling of a clay pot of Pongol rice at sunrise in the front of the house as the family delightfully cries out, "Pongal! Pongal! auchu!" which means, "It's boiling! It's boiling!"