Farmers do Chithirai ploughing on auspicious April 14

It has been a tradition among farmers of this region to make Chithirai ploughing on the first day of Tamil month of Chithirai and most of them use to commence the Chithirai pattam cultivation. To mark the commencement of the cultivation, farmers took the traditional wooden plough tool, the oxen and paddy seeds and performed special poojas to them. 

After the special poojas, they went to the fields in a procession and offered fruits, rice, paddy seeds and navadhanyam (nine grains) and worshipped the Sun God to help them complete the cultivation successfully. 

Subsequently, they ploughed the land and sowed the paddy seeds to mark the commencement of the Chithirai pattam cultivation praying for adequate rains to help them get a good harvest this season. 

“The Chithirai ploughing event has been in practice across the region since several centuries to ensure the success of a particular season. Though the traditional event has been stopped in some parts due to the invasion of modern life, it is still being strictly followed by many villages,” said Pandiarajan, an aged farmer from Achampatti village in Thanjavur district. 

Pandiarajan recalled that in the past, the Chithirai ploughing event used to be organised in a grand manner where the bull from each household would participate and after the ritual, the owners used to drive them away back home and the family members used to welcome them with an aarthi. “But due to modern life, we have been missing those happy events,” Pandiarajan recalled.