Tomorrow (Jan 16) we celebrate Maatu Pongal (cattle and livestock Pongal) which is to celebrate the bovine members of our family. The traditional Indian household always had cows. I remember playing with the calves at my grandmother’s place during summer vacations. The milk tasted divine. The cow dung was dried into cakes and used as fuel or in the fields as organic manure.
For the past six months we have been getting pure organic cow milk courtesy the Living Without Medicine group. Only now I realise how tasteless the milk that comes in a pouch or tetra pack is 😔.
The third day of Pongal celebrations involves washing the cows and decorating them colourfully. The bulls are also decorated and the famous “Jallikattu”, the bull taming sport is held in several villages across TamilNadu. This time, some of the Jallikattu events are being held on Jan 17th. Unfortunately the pandemic is a dampener. Just praying that the spread is contained. 🙁
Kanu Pidi 2022
Today is a special celebration for the Tamilian Brahmin community. We make two or three different coloured rice – white, yellow and red. These are made into tiny balls and kept outside on Turmeric leaves. We call out to crows to come and eat the rice balls and bless our family, particularly siblings and the extended family.
The belief is that like a crow that never eats alone, let us all remain together as a family, supportive of each other.
On this day, we make lemon rice, curd rice and sweet pongal definitely.
Again Kousalya did the Kanu Pidi, the right way, while I improvised :). The crows that we feed everyday enjoyed the rice balls. I made a short video of the crow trying to peck away at the tree bark tray that I used instead of the Turmeric leaves.
#IndianFestivals #HinduTraditions