Pongal is the four-day Tamil harvest festival honoring the Sun, cattle, and nature.
Celebrated mainly in Tamil Nadu and by Tamil communities worldwide, Pongal takes place during the Tamil month of Thai, usually in January. The festival gives thanks for the rice harvest and for the natural forces and animals that support farming.
The first day, Bhogi, traditionally involves discarding old belongings. Thai Pongal is the central day, when newly harvested rice is cooked with milk and jaggery until it boils over. Mattu Pongal honors cattle, while Kaanum Pongal is associated with family visits and community gatherings.
Pongal is often confused with Makar Sankranti, a broader solar festival observed across India around the same time. They overlap calendrically, but Pongal is specifically the Tamil harvest celebration and has its own sequence of days and rituals.