The Tamil community in Sri Lanka is celebrating Thai Pongal today with fervour and gaiety. Observed at the start of the Tamil month Thai, Pongal is a multi-day harvest festival dedicated to the Sun God. The festival is named after the ceremonial ‘Pongal’, which means ‘to boil, overflow’ and refers to the traditional dish prepared from the new harvest of rice boiled in milk with jaggery.

An Akashvani correspondent reports that as part of the celebrations, the Tamil Hindu community, which numbers upwards of 2 and a half million in the island, will visit temples today to give thanks for the abundance of the previous year’s harvest and pray for a successful one in the coming year. The multi-day celebration of Pongal marks the beginning of the sun’s journey northward, signalling the end of the winter solstice.

Celebrations have started early in the morning with the making of beautiful designs of Kolam before every house. As devotees pray to the sun god, chants of ‘Pongalo pongal’ and the overflowing of Pongal from the pots will be notable.