HAPPY THAI PONGAL!
Happy Thai Pongal! In a few short days in North India (specifically, Tamil and Sri Lanka, as well as other places near India) there will be a four-day long harvest celebration called "Tha Pongal!"
Thai Pongal is a Hindu festival that focuses on gratitude for bounty, a celebration of harvest, and hope for a plentiful new year.
We listened to some Thai Pongal drum music while also looking at pictures of the traditional celebratory dish, freshly harvested rice boiled in milk in clay pots. It is purposefully "boiled over" to represent its bounty and plentiful nature! Sometimes sweet, sometimes savory, this rice dish is a staple during the festival.
Another tradition are the bright and beautiful "kolams" made of everything from colored rice and flour to chalk powder! Every morning throughout the celebration, women use the colored powders to make lovely geometric designs that are thought to bring prosperity and good luck on the floors and front doorsteps of homes. When they are destroyed from rain, wind or footsteps, new designs are made!
To celebrate our version of Thai Pongal, we enjoyed making shapes and drawings in little piles of colored salts on paper plates! Ask your child about drawing in the salt and making beautiful "kolams."
Infants also sang/read the book "I'm a Little Teapot" and had fun with bouncing songs!
QUESTIONS TO ASK YOUR CHILD
1) What boils over in the pot during Thai Pongal? Rice and Milk!
2) Do you remember drawing in the colored sand and making designs? Do you remember what they are called? Kolam!