It is my pleasure... Dear Chitvish, It is my pleasure to participate in your informative and interesting threads. Pongal ponai kolam...suppppperrrrrrrrrr-ma! Malathy
Dear Chitvish It was a pleasure reading your informative and lucid article about Pongal, the attached images being a bonus. How nice to see a traditional mud chula for cooking the pongal ! In our home, we decorate the cooking range with " maakkolam" , tie tender manjal bunches to the pressure cooker and cook the pongal-though in a cooker, nothing really pongafies ! Being tamilians in karnataka, we observe hybrid rituals, so during pongal, we also do the karnataka sankranti-ritual of Ellu-beeruvudu . This means distributing Ellu that is , til(or gingelly). This Ellu is a tasty crunchy-munchy mixture of white seasame seeds, roasted ground-nuts, friedgram, chopped copra, chopped jaggery and tiny colourful sweets called "batthas". One complete Ellu Tamboola set consits of one packet of this Ellu, sugarcane, bananas, coconut, haldi-kumkum in beautiful, imaginatively handcrafted packets and yummy sugar dolls called Sakkare-Acchu. This full set is placed in a give-away container which can be anything like a caneware tray, steel basin,plastic basket, whatever, and given to each friend and relative. There is a custom in Mysore that if there has been a recent birth or a pregnancy at home, then a small baby doll or a tiny silver Krishna is kept with the Ellu set to be distributed. Little girls love this Ellu distribution routine because they get similar little gifts in return ! VS
Kolam Dear Chitra I was following this thread for quite some time. Nice of you for taking the efforts to explain the significance of all the festivals we celebrate. So kind of you. Dear Meena The Kolam looks really grand. Thanks for posting it. Wish you all a Very Happy Pongal. regards vidhi
Dear Vidyasarada ! It makes interesting reading - the details of the "mixture". Sounds quite crunchy & tasty too ! Hybrid customs have come to stay, but I would say, enjoyably ! Sugar Bomme from Karnataka has become a " must" in the display kept in weddings, now a days ! Thankyou for joining us in this thread. Love, Chithra. பொங்கும் மங்களம் எங்கும் தங்குக !
My dear Meena ! Very beautiful kolam ! I can almost see the "paal pongufying" !! Thankyou for giving us the viewing pleasure of your kolam. Love, Chithra. பொங்கும் மங்களம் எங்கும் தங்குக !
My dear Vidhi ! Thankyou very much for the F B. What I do here is my pleasure, as well, Vidhi ! Love, Chithra. பொங்கும் மங்களம் எங்கும் தங்குக !