Thai Pongal

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For the dish, see Pongal (dish).

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Thai Pongal

Observed by Ethnic Tamils, most notably; Malaysian Indians

Indian Americans

Sri Lankan Tamils

Indo-Mauritians

Indian Singaporeans

British Indians

Indian South Africans

Indo-Canadians

Type Hindu Festival

Significance Harvest festival. Thanking the Hindu Sun God for

agricultural abundance

4 days long

Celebrations Presenting Pongal to Sun God, Temple Prayers and

sharing Pongal dish.

 Date First day of the tenth month of Thai in the Tamil

calendar

2016 date 15 January

2017 date 14 January [1]

Related to Makar Sankranti (in Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal, Kerala,

Bihar, Goa, Karnataka, Orissa, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra,

Manipur, Telangana, Uttar Pradesh in India)

Magh Bihu (in Assam, India)

Uttarayana (in Gujurat and Rajasthan in India)

Maghi (in Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Punjab in India)

Maghe Sankranti (in Nepal)

Shakrain (in Bangladesh)

Tamil is written in a non-Latin

script. Tamil text used in this
article is transliterated into the
Latin script according to the ISO
15919 standard.

Thai Pongal (Tamil: , /apol/)( Distinct from Telugu: Sankranthi ) is a Thanks

giving to Sun God for Harvest. Tamil harvest festival (Tamil : ) (English: Festival of the
Tamil). Thai Pongal is a four-day festival which according to the Tamil calendar is normally
celebrated from January 14 to January 17.[2] This corresponds to the last day of the Tamil
month Maargazhi, The Thai Pongal Comes on English Date of January 14 or 15 Jan As The Sun
enters into Capricorn & Thai Tamil Calendar Tamil month Starts.
Thai Pongal is one of the most important festivals celebrated by Tamil people[3][4] in the Indian state
of Tamil Nadu, the Indian Union Territory of Puducherry,[5][6] and the country of Sri Lanka,[7][8][9] as well
as Tamils worldwide, including those in Malaysia,[10][11] Mauritius, South Africa,[12][13] United
States, Singapore,[14] Canada[15][16] and UK.[17] Thai Pongal corresponds to Makara Sankranthi, the
harvest festival celebrated throughout India.
The day marks the start of the sun's six-month-long journey northwards (the Uttaraayanam). This
also corresponds to the Indic solstice when the sun purportedly enters the 10th house of the Indian
zodiac Makara or Capricorn. Thai Pongal is mainly celebrated to convey appreciation to the Sun
God for a successful harvest. Part of the celebration is the boiling of the first rice of the season
consecrated to the Sun - the Surya Maangalyam.[18]