Celebrating Tamizhar Thirunaal away from home

CHENNAI: Born and raised in the United Kingdom, my roots are from Chennai and Kancheepuram. Pongal has always been my favourite holiday of the winter. I used to struggle with my Tamil identity for a long period growing up, due to the discrimination I faced from other south Asian communities. It took me a long time to accept, explore and be proud of my roots. Pongal is a time where I end up learning about my heritage and embrace that part of my identity. My amma makes Pongal, and all of the trimmings. We watch it boil over and shout ‘Pongal O Pongal’. We also offer it to the sun god in our garden. I love to watch my appa draw kolam on the floor. We greet our family in Indian and share Pongal memories and stories. My whole family enjoys Ilaiyaraaja, so we listen to his classics. This year, I will be celebrating Pongal with my brother in the Tamil community in London. We have a massive Tamil community here, from all over the world and South Asia. I will also talk about the history of Pongal on my Instagram as it’s the Tamil Heritage Month. Celebrating such an important harvest festival is pivotal in protecting our culture. Loads of south Asian communities in the UK throw Pongal parties, massive get-togethers for Tamil creatives to showcase their work, da nce, art, and music. We are certainly seeing more recognition of the Tamil community and its existence abroad.

—Nila Varman, content creator and filmmaker, United Kingdom

I grew up in Neyveli and moved to Chicago in 1998. Pongal for me is Thamizhar Thiruvizha. Here, the month of January is extremely cold. So, my wife always keeps Pongal in a cooker, keeping manjal and kumkum around it. When the milk boils and starts pouring out, we shout ‘Pongal O Pongal’. Later, we do pooja and nei vaidhyam to lord Surya. We also make kara pongal and brinjal gothsu. Having betel leaves, bananas, paaku, and flowers, we pray to the God Sun. Also, for bhogi, my wife prepares boli, we do pooja at home and give it to all my close friends living in the US. It is true that Pongal is not celebrated as big as Deepavali here. Even though we do not celebrate with traditional sugarcane, turmeric in a pongal pot, it is what we would remember each year while preparing pongal. In Chicago, the Tamil Sangam has existed since 1969. For the past few years - every function now includes ‘parai’ performance, which is the traditional Tamil melam and food is served.

— Sundar Sundaresan, QA manager, Chicago, United States

Originally from Chennai, I moved to Boston in the United States about 12 years ago. We make preparations for the pooja a day prior. In the morning, we keep pongee, get a glimpse of the Surya bhagavan and thank him for each morsel of food we get from Mother Earth. We celebrate not just one day, but the four days-- from Bhogi, till Kaanum Pongal. It’s about spending time with relatives, relishing blissful food, and watching Pongal releases. The temples here will be bustling with people for the two days of Bhogi and Pongal. There are many Tamil sangams across the New England region which celebrate Pongal by conducting cultural programs and competitions like Tamil oratorical debates and encourage the kids who have love and interest toward Tamil language.

—Meenakshi Udhayakumar, Systems quality assurance architect, Boston, United States