Let's celebrate the festival of harvest
The sun god is honoured with appreciation during this annual Indian festival, which is held in celebration of a fruitful crop. Because the solar calendar is used instead of the less precise lunar calendar, the dates of the event tend to be consistent with one another, which is why it always takes place in January.
This festival holds a great deal of significance for Hindus because it symbolizes the beginning of the sun's movement toward the north, which it will continue to accomplish for the subsequent half year. In the southern part of India, it is most commonly referred to as Pongal, although in the northern and central regions of the nation, it is sometimes named Makar Sankranti.
Pongal celebration in Singapore
In Singapore, the Pongal festival is celebrated at the end of winter and the beginning of spring. Spring is the season in which the length of the daytime hours increases while the length of the nighttime hours decreases. Regardless of the name of the celebration, it is regarded as a very joyous and fortunate time in Singapore.
The festivities take place over the course of four days, each of which is given a unique moniker. The Surya Pongal celebration takes place on the day after the Bhogi Festival, which kicks off the festival season. Subsequent days are termed Maatu Pongal and Kaanum Pongal.
If this is an Indian custom, then it begs the question why it is celebrated in Singapore in the first place. The reason for this is pretty simple: Singapore has a large number of Tamil people, and many of them make it a point to celebrate this holiday every year.
Cooking and expressing thanks are just two of the various rituals that people participate in during Pongal. Other activities include cleaning and decorating the home. Bhogi is often the time of year when people engage in spring cleaning at home and get rid of unused possessions. This ushers in a brand-new epoch in human history.
On the following day, which is dedicated to Lord Surya, Singaporean families will prepare massive bowls of rice and milk to make offerings to Lord Surya at the break of dawn.
The cattle are honoured specifically on the third day of Pongal, which is the festival of Pongal. In addition to producing milk, cattle put in a lot of effort during this time of the year. As a result of this, folks who celebrate Pongal in Singapore hold them in very high regard.
The fourth day of Pongal is typically the busiest, with people going to visit friends and relatives, paying special attention to elderly relatives who are the focus of the majority of tributes made during this holiday.
On the last day, which is called Kaanum Pongal, it is a good idea to go to Singapore's Little India, and more specifically, Campbell Lane. It is in this location that you will find the local Tamil population putting on performances and demonstrating their customary way of life. You won't get the entire experience of the one-of-a-kind celebrations that take place during this time period anywhere else but in this area.