Pongalcelebrated in TN

Chennai, Jan 15 (UNI) Pongal, the harvest festival, is being celebrated with traditional Gaiety in Tamil Nadu today.

Pongal is an occasion for who honouring the Sun God. Farmers this year are jubilant after a relatively good monsoon.

The four-day festivities, which began with Bhogi yesterday, are also dedicated to the Rain God, the Earth, and Livestock too.

Pongal heralds the auspicious Tamil Month of 'Thai', during which weddings and other family functions take place after the austere month of Margazhi devoted to prayer.

Special poojas are held in the temples and people thronged the temples right from the wee hours to mark the occasion.

After Bogi and Pongal, the third day of the festivities 'Mattu Pongal' would be celebrated tomorrow to offer worship to cattle, which help farmers in plouging the fields.

The day would also have Jallikattu (taming the bull) contest, a rural sport, which wasrecently challenged in court by animal rights groups.

The fourth day would be celebrated as 'Kaanum Pongal', when people visit their friends and relatives and picnic spots.

No Pongal is complete without the release of new films and for the ardent film goers seven films hit the silver screens from today.

UNI