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Photo: K.R. Deepak

Saying it with colours Children participating in ‘rangoli’ contest as part of Sankranthi celebrations

Everybody needs to chill out and so do the crop harvesters who toil hard throughout the year to take care of our food needs. Primarily basing on this concept and giving a bit of mythological touch, the festival of Pongal seems to have evolved centuries ago.

Being an agrarian country since ages, the harvest festival is celebrated all across the country but it is predominant in the southern peninsula. The four-day harvest festival at times stretches to six or eight days and is celebrated throughout south India by all segments of society with much pomp and gaiety.

Pongal is celebrated every year from January 13 to 16. The dates might vary by a day or two depending on the sun’s position. It also has an astronomical significance: it marks the beginning of Uttarayana, the sun’s movement northward for a six-month period. On the Sankranthi day the sun enters the zodiac sign of Makara or Capricorn and therefore referred to as Makara Sankranthi. The four-day festival comprises Bhogi, Sankranthi, Kanuma and Mukkanuma. Each day has its own significance and relevance and celebrated differently. Even the food differs from one day to another.

Traditionally Pongal is celebrated as the annual get-together of families. “During this period all the family members assemble at one place, preferably at the ancestral home. The four days are spent amidst fun and customary games with lip smacking authentic traditional food adding to the flavour,” says the general manager of Hotel Daspalla, Prasanth. The essence of the festival can actually be seen in the rural areas. Where the singing of the haridasus and chiming bells of the gangireddulu announce the break of the dawn. The front of the house is decorated with colourful ‘rangolis’ and a number of village sports like cockfight and bull race make the day interesting and adventurous.

Food forms the integral part of the festival and a number of traditional dishes like pongali, sheer annam, pulihora, arisalu, perugu gari and modha pappu find place in the main course menu. To give a feel of the traditional rustic touch to the city folks Hotel Daspalla is organising a five-day festival and have aptly named it as ‘Sankranthi Sambaralu’ from Saturday.

As a curtain raiser to the festival the hotel organised a cookery contest on Thursday and a ‘rangoli’ contest on Friday. “We will be serving ‘Andhra Bhojanam’ (authentic Andhra food) during the festival at our south Indian restaurant Dharani and a snack festival will be held at Spandana. Besides, a number of traditional cultural programmes like tapatgullu, samugaradi, gangireddulu and hardidasu will add value to the ambience.

Today, tradition has merged with the cosmopolitan culture but the flavour hasn’t been lost,” says Prasanth. Airing a similar view, Sujatha a housewife says, “Villages are fast shrinking and cities are expanding. We might not be able to visit our ancestral home, as people have settled far and wide, thanks to the professional development but the idea is to keep the tradition alive.

We might celebrate the festival by wearing new clothes and going to a hotel to taste traditional food but at the same time also consider giving alms to gangireddulu and haridasu. It has been our custom since long and their visit to the household during that period is also considered to be auspicious.” ‘Shop till you drop’ becomes the catch phrase during the harvest festival.

People from all walks of life save their bit to experience a shopping spree before the festival days.

The cloth shops not only deck up for the occasion but also float a number of schemes to lure the shoppers. “It is a custom to buy clothes for all the family members and distribute them on the Bhogi day. After the traditional hot water bath one should wear new clothes.

This has been the practice since ages,” says Vidyasagar who runs a software firm.

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