On the 15th January we gathered together as one big family on the Harvest Festival also known as Pongal or Shankranthi. The earth is decorated for the celebration. New rice is cooked with milk and jaggery in a new earthen ware pot in a small patch that is fairly decorated with garlands of mango leaves, sugarcane and intricate colourful designs known as Rangoli. While the milk and the rice boil over all scream with joy “Pongalo Pongal”. This is then blessed and distributed to all present on banana leaves. The first to be given of this sweet rice with a banana are the milch animals, our buffalos and our goats. They enjoy it as much as the kids and ask for more. A day we thank God for His blessings on the earth and we ask for a bountiful harvest and for God’s protection for the year 2011.
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