Some Famous Indian Festivals and Their Meanings

All festivals celebrated in India have its own meaning and reasons. Most of the festivals are colorful. Though there are many festivals, I love the below five, as they are celebrated in my home. I remember those days when were young, how I longed for a festival day. We used to get new dresses, lot of sweets, gathering of relatives to share happiness, etc… The truth is, gone are those days, in this mechanical life now. By recollecting those moments to put it here in words, I felt the happiness spreading inside me.

Pongal

Pongal is known as harvest festival, celebrated in the state Tamilnadu of India. It comes in the mid of January, the day on which is the starting of the new month “Thai” of Tamil people. It is called with different names in different states of India. In my place, it is celebrated for four days.

The first day is called as Bhogi pongal, which means, removing all old items from your house hold and entry of new items. The meaning behind is removal of your bad thoughts and entry of good thoughts inside you.  The second day is the actual main day of celebration. It is the harvest festival, especially celebrated by farmers. It is compared to the thanks giving day of western countries. On that day, people will wear new dress and cook lot of vegetable dishes, which are harvested newly. The main dish is the “PONGAL”, a sweet dish which is prepared in a mud pot, and dedicated to Sun GOD, as he is the source of energy to this entire world. Sugarcane is another one main product consumed on that day. Third day of pongal is “Mattu Pongal”, which is a day for cattle that serves the farmers to achieve the prosperous harvest. The final day is “Kannum pongal”, where as the word kannum means seeing/meeting. On this day, people will visit their relatives place and greet each other.

My Kolam in front of my home

Through out the festival, people will decorate their houses with beautiful paintings called “Kolam”.

Vishu

This comes in the mid of April. It is the astronomical New Year day, celebrated in the state of Kerala, India. Most of the south Indian states celebrate the same, with different names.