Pongal, the world over !
Mid-January is an important time in the Tamil calendar. The harvest festival, Pongal, falls typically on the 14th or the 15th of January and is the quintessential `Tamil Festival'. Pongal is a harvest festival, a traditional occasion for giving thanks to nature, for celebrating the life cycles that give us grain. Tamilians say `Thai pirandhaal vazhi pirakkum', and believe that knotty family problems will be solved with the advent of the Tamil month Thai that begins on Pongal day. This is traditionally the month of weddings. This is not a surprise in a largely agricultural community -- the riches gained from a good harvest form the economic basis for expensive family occasions like weddings.
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People prepare for Pongal with spring-cleaning and the burning of trash. The festival itself, lasts three days. The first day is a day for family and for giving thanks to the rain gods. The second day is set aside to worship the Sun. The third day celebrates cattle, an important component of agricultural and pastoral life. The community gathers for a feast of freshly harvested rice. But celebrating harvest is understandably not just a Tamilian habit. For as long as people have been planting and gathering food, there has been some form of Harvest Festival or at the very least, a celebratory feast dinner the harvest was done.
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In Kerala, Onam is celebrated in the month of August or September. Onam celebrates the bounties of nature and a year of good harvest. The festivities begin ten days in advance and flowers adorn every home. A procession of elephants, fireworks, and dances are part of the festivities. A boat race is one of the main attractions of the holiday and the celebrants turn out to watch the beautifully decorated boats. Onam also celebrates the mythical King Mahabali and his golden rule. Feared by the gods that he might become too powerful, he was sent into exile in the nether world. The gods, however, did allow him to return once a year to visit his people and be assured that they were happy.
In Northern India, they harvest their wheat in spring which is either in late February or early March. This is also the time for Holi which is a harvest festival lasting five days. At festival time, everyone dresses up, or buys new clothes. People join in the fun of the festival by wearing old clothes and as part of the celebration they throw colored water and red powder at each other. Everyone whether they are family, friends or strangers get the same treatment. Several kinds of games are played and everyone is encouraged to join in. Most of these games are rough and boisterous. People also build and light bonfires where everyone in the neighborhood is to provide fuel for the bonfire. After the flames have died down the ashes are rubbed over people's foreheads. This is done as it was believed to bring good luck for the year ahead.
In China, the Mid-Autumn Festival or Moon Festival, is celebrated on the 15th day of the 8th month of the lunar calendar. This is the time for family and loved ones to gather and enjoy the full moon that is a symbol of abundance, harmony and luck. Families enjoy picnics or special dinners. Adults usually indulge in many different varieties of mooncakes with a cup of piping hot Chinese tea. Along with the delicious mooncakes, children enjoy brightly lit lanterns, puppet shows, and lantern processions. This Moon festival is also celebrated in Taiwan, Singapore, and Vietnam. The festival of Malaysia is celebrated each May to give thanks to the rice gods. Agricultural shows, cultural programs, buffalo races, and traditional games are held. There is fun and feasting throughout the Festival.
The Shinto rites in Japan, at New Year's were originally festivals at which people prayed for a bountiful harvest in the coming year. The rice-planting and other paddy-field festivals that are still celebrated throughout Japan, also involve prayers for a good harvest. Kimono-clad girls, their sleeves tied back with red sashes, plant the rice while musicians perform nearby with drums, flutes, and bells. The dance traditionally associated with such festivals gradually evolved as a part of the Noh theatre. In autumn, harvest festivals are held, and the first fruits of the paddy field are offered to the gods. In rural communities, the entire community celebrates this autumn festival and in many places, floats carrying symbolic gods are paraded through the streets. At the Imperial Palace, the Emperor fulfills the role of presenting offerings of new grain and produce to the gods.
Chu Suk is a Korean Festival that takes place during the harvest season. Memorial services take place and visits of respect are made to the site of ancestoral graves. After the memorial services, there is a special meal to celebrate and be thankful for each other. The night before Chu Suk is the time for Kang Kang Sue Wol Lae. Kang Kang Sue Wol Lae is a traditional ceremony where women gather in a circle and sing songs. Other activities that take place during Chu Suk are wrestling, archery, singing folk music, and a game called turtle tag. Altogether, Chu Suk is a time of feasting and happiness.
African peoples have always had festivals at the times of harvest. In some parts of Africa, good grain harvests are a cause for celebration. In other parts of Africa, there is the Festival of Yams. Tribes of West Africa, for example, celebrate the yam harvest with days of ceremonies and offerings of yams to their ancestors and to the gods.
In Israel, there is the harvest festival of Sukkot. It begins on the fifth day after Yom Kippur. During Sukkot, in honour of the children of Israel in the wilderness, people dwell or at least eat their meals in temporary shelters called a sukkah. The sukkah has at least three sides and a partially open roof covered with greenery and fruits. An observance during Sukkot involves what are known as The Four Species or the lulav and etrog. The lulav consists of a palm branch, a myrtle branch, and a willow branch bound together. The etrog is a citrus fruit native to Israel and is held separately. With these four species in hand, one recites a blessing and waves the bundle in all six directions (east, south, west, north, up and down).
Europeans have traditionally had six harvest or thanksgiving festivals during the year. The first gave thanks to the Creator for the maple tree and its syrup. Second was the planting feast, where the seeds were blessed. The strawberry festival was next, celebrating the first fruits of the season. Summer brought the green corn festival to give thanks for the ripening corn. In late fall, the harvest festival gave thanks for the food they had grown. Midwinter was the last ceremony of the old year.
In Canada and in the USA, people celebrate Thanksgiving Day on the second Monday in October. In the year 1578, the English navigator Martin Frobisher held a formal ceremony, in what is now called Newfoundland, to give thanks for surviving the long journey. Much like in the United States, the tradition continued unofficially until 1879, when Thanksgiving was declared a national holiday. The October date was officially established in 1957.
R. Ramanujam