தமிழர் திருநாள் தி .பி.2043 தமிழ் ஆண்டு

மேற்கு நாட்டவர்களுக்கு சனவரி முதல் நாள் புத்தாண்டு என்றால் தமிழர்களுக்கு தமிழ்த் தை மாதம் முதல் நாள் தான் புத்தாண்டின் தோற்றம்.

தைப் பொங்கல் என்று பரவலாக அழைக்கப்படும் பெரு விழா இந்த நாளில்சிறப்பாகக் கொண்டாடப்படுகிறது. இந்த விழா தொடர்ச்சியாக மூன்று அல்லது நான்கு நாட்கள் கொண்டாடப் படுகிறது.

கிழே உள்ள படங்கள் 14 .01 .2006 அன்று விடுதலைப்புலிகளின் படையணிகள்தைத்திருநாளைக் கொண்டாடின படங்களை இணைத்துள்ளோம்.

தமிழ்நாடு, தமிழீழம், மலேசியா, சிங்கைப்பூர், இங்கிலாந்து, ஐரோப்பிய நாடுகள் அமெரிக்கா, கனடா, தென்னாபிரிக்கா, மொரீசியசு, பர்மா எனத் தமிழர் வாழும் நாடுகளில் இந்தத் தனிப்பெரும் விழா கொண்டாடப்படுகிறது. உலகத் தமிழர்களை இனைக்கும் பண்பாட்டு விழா என்றால் மிகையல்ல. விடுதலை வேண்டிநிற்கும் தமிழர்கள் இந்த விழாவின் முக்கியத்துவத்தை நன்கு அறிவர்.

இந்த விழா மதங்களைக் கடந்து அனைத்துத் தமிழர்களாலும் கொண்டாடப்படுவதால் அதற்கு தனி விஷேசம் உண்டு. இது சமத்துவத்தை முன்நிலைப் படுத்தும் விழா. உழைக்கும் மக்கள், உயிர்களை வாழவைக்கும் இயற்கை, மாடு எனப்படும் உழைப்புக்கு உதவும் செல்வம் ஆகியவற்றிற்கு நன்றி கூறும் நாளாகவும் இது இடம் பெறுகிறது.

உணவு இல்லாமல் மக்களும், உயிரினங்களும் உயிர் வாழ முடியாது. உணவுக்காக உழவர்கள் பயிர்த் தொழில் செய்கிறார்கள். உழவுத் தொழில் மீண்டும் உன்னத நிலை அடையும் என்று எதிர்வு கூறப்படுகிறது. பொருளாதாரப் பின்னடைவுகளைத் தாங்கும் வலுவை உலக நாடுகளுக்கு உழவுத் தொழில் வழங்குகிறது.

பெருநிலப் பரப்புக்களில் பெரும் விவசாய நிறுவனங்கள் பல கோடி முதலீடுகளுடன் பயிர்த் தொழிலில் ஈடுபடுவதால் பரப்பளவு குறைந்த நிலங்களில் செய்யும் விவசாயம் மறைந்து விடும் என்று முன்பு எதிர்வு கூறப்பட்டது. இது பொய்த்து விட்டது.

சிறு விவசாயிகளின் விவசாய முயற்சிகள் தன்நிறைவு, பல்தேய வர்த்தக நிறுவனங்களில் தங்கியிராமை, இயற்கை வேளாண்மை போன்ற மனித குலத்திற்கு மேம்பாடு தரும் இலக்குகள் ஆகியவற்;றை அடைய உதவுகின்றன. தைப்பொங்கல் விழா சிந்தனையையும் தூண்டும் விழாவாகவும் இடம்பெறுவதை அவதானிக்கலாம்.

http://thaaitamil.com/?page_id=3868

Significance of Thamil New Year 2043 and Pongal Festival

Thanksgiving is an important aspect of Thamil culture and tradition like many other civilisations. Most thanksgiving ceremonies are religious in nature as people of each culture thank their chosen deity for the favours granted to them, though this is not always the case.

The Thamil festival of Thai Pongal is a thanks-giving ceremony and secular in nature. It is the equivalent of Canada's Thanks Giving Day. Pongal is a traditional four-days-long harvest festival celebrated by Thamils living around the globe. Pongal day and the date following are national holidays in Thamil Nadu, India.

If we reconstruct people made the transition from a nomadic way of life, based on hunting and then planting and gathering food, there has been some form of harvest festival. Pongal is one of the most important popular festivals of the year. This four-days festival of thanksgiving takes its name from the Thamil word meaning "to boil" and is held on the first day of the month of Thai (January -February) when rice and other cereals, sugar-cane, and turmeric (an essential ingredient in Tamil cooking) are harvested.

Mid-January is an important time in the Thamil calendar. The harvest festival, Pongal, falls typically on the 14th or the 15th of January and is the quintessential 'Thamil Festival'. Pongal is an occasion for giving thanks to nature, for celebrating the life cycles that give us grain. For Thamil farmers it is an occasion to thank gift of nature like the sun for warmth and farm cattle for its assistance in reaping a bountiful harvest.

Thamilians say 'Thai piranthaal vazhi pirakkum', and believe that knotty family problems will be solved with the advent of the Thamil month Thai that begins on Pongal day. This is traditionally the month of weddings. This is not a surprise in a largely agricultural community - the riches gained from a good harvest form the economic basis for expensive family occasions like weddings. Thamils refer to Pongal as "Thamizhar Thiru Naal" (meaning "the Auspices Day of Thamils"). No other festival has this unique distinction.

In 1921, Thamil scholars who gathered under the chairmanship of "Thamil Kadal" (Sea) Maraimalai Adikal after long deliberations, decided unanimously that the Thamil New Year commenced on the first day of the Thamil month "Thai" which coincided with the birthday of Saint Thiruvalluvar. All the twelve months that followed have pure Thamil names. Other scholars included Thamil Thenral V. Kalyanundaram, Thamil Kavalar K.Subramaniumpillai, Saiva Periyaar Satchithananthampillai, Naavalar Somasundara Barathiyar, Naavalar N.M. Vegkadasami Naadaar and Muthamil Kaavalar

K.A.P. Visvanatham.

The tradition of celebrating Chiththirai 01 (April 14) consisted of a cycle of sixty years from Prabhava to Atchaya and then the next sixty years starting with Prabhava. This makes it mathematically impossible to keep track or chronologically record historical events that happened in the past. Suppose a great leader was born in the year of Atchaya after a lapse of one or two centuries it will not be able to decipher the exact age or period of that event. Thiruvalluvar, who is believed to have born 31 years before Jesus Christ, wrote Thirukkural. The Thamil Calendar is dated from that period and referred as Thiruvalluvar Aandu (Year). We find Thiruvalluvar as a moral philosopher, political scientist and master of public administration in the first two parts of Thirukkural. We find him to be a creative artist in the third part, depicting the fascinating aspects of lovers. Thirukkural's immortality and universality are unquestionable. Its ethics and values are applicable to all religions, countries and time. It has been translated in over 60 languages.

In 1969, M. Karunanidhi, Chief Minister of Thamil Nadu, ordered that the day after Pongal should be celebrated as Thiruvalluvar Day all over Thamil Nadu. He also declared the day as a government holiday. The second day of Thai (Thai thingal) is celebrated as Thiruvalluvar Day since 1974. Thamil Nadu Government also adopted the Thamil Calendar based on the birth of Thiruvalluvar in 1971, in government gazette since 1972 and in all government offices from 1981.

In 2008, the Thamil Nadu government passed into law legislation declaring Thai 01 (January 14) as the birth of Thamil New Year and Thai Pongal Vizha, but the AIADMK government which came to power in May, 2011 had annulled the law. Nonetheless, Thamil activists continue to observe the first day of Thai as the beginning of Thamil New Year, which also coincides, with the birth of Thiruvalluvar in 31 BC. In the solar calendar, January 14/15 has astronomical significance. It is the day the sun after making a complete circle is seen going on its 'northward journey' (Uththarayanam) and observed from the earth the sun enters one of the 12 imaginary zodiac sign of Magara Raasi (Capricorn) from Dhanu Raasi (Sagittarius). In ancient times, the lunar and not the solar calendar was followed in celebrating festivals. There is historical evidence to show that Thai Pongal was celebrated on the day when the new moon was sighted. This was because in ancient times the calendar was based on the changing phases of the moon. The celebration of Thai 01 goes back to the latter part of the Sangam age. According to the Sangam literary work Paripaadal, this day is related to the Thiruvaathirai festival. Having spent the entire month of Maarkazhi praying to god and observing ritual fasting, young virgins celebrated the last day, Thai 01, with the Thai Bathing.

According to the work Kaliththokai, the rituals during the month of Maarkazhi are observed in the hope that it will lead to wedlock with a good-hearted husband. It also mentions the worship of Sun as a deity. According to the stone inscriptions [kalvettu] at Thiruvotriyoor, Pongal was celebrated during the time of the great king Raaja Raaja Chozhan 1 who ruled between 985 and 1014 CE ) . This festival was known as the "Puthiyeedu" festival. Puthiyeedu meant the first harvest of the year. Both the Maarkazhi month rituals and the Thai 01, bathing rituals are practiced even today. These secular rituals inspired the immortal hymns of Thiruppaavai and Thiruvempaavai by Saintess Aandaal and Saint Mankikavasakar respectively in the 9th century AD.

Pongal refers to rice cooked in milk and sweetened with jaggery. As already mentioned on a full scale, it is a four-day festival of nature-worship. On the first day before Thai Pongal courtyards are cleaned, old wares are discarded and replaced with new things, homes colour-washed and decorated.

In short, people, houses, and cows all take on an air of freshness and radiance during Thamil New Year and Pongal. There is also the hope that "When Thai is born, a way will be born." Thai Pianthaal, Vazhi Pirakkum). Thai is considered an auspicious month to hold weddings.

On Thai Pongal day members of the family wake up early in the morning, take special baths, puts on new clothes and gather in the front of the yard (muttram) to cook the traditional Pongal (rice pudding).

A flat square pitch is made and decorated with koalam drawings, and it is exposed to the direct sun light. A fire wood hearth will be set up using three bricks. . The cooking begins by putting a clay pot with water on the hearth. A senior member of the family will conduct the cooking and the rest of the family dutifully assists him or her or watches the event. The moment of climax is the spill over of the Pongal during cooking. The spill over of milk is a propitious symbol of abundance and good omen and shouts of " Pongalo Pongal". Thereafter, a member of the family ceremoniously puts three handful of new rice inside the boiling pot. The other ingredients of this special dish are chakkarai (brown cane sugar) or katkandu (sugar candy), milk (cow's milk or coconut milk), roasted green gram (payaru), raisins, cashew nuts and few pods of cardamom.

When the meal is ready it is first put on a banana leaf and the family pray for a few minutes to thank nature, sun and farmers. Then the meal (Pongal) is served with fruits (banana and mango) among the family. Later it will be shared with neighbours, friends and relatives.

On the third day, thanks are offered to the cattle, Mattup Pongal or Paddip Pongal, which helped farmers to plough the fields, transport goods and provide milk to drink. On this day the cattle is bathed, decorated and given special gruel. Turmeric, kunkumam are applied to the horns of the cattle, garlands, small bells and bundles of vadai are hung around their necks and paraded in the streets. The cooked Pongal is given to the cattle to eat. In Thamil Nadu, young men stage a kind of bullfight called the 'Jallikattu' on the 3rd day of Thai Pongal celebrations. On the fourth day people exchange visit with their relations and close friends. In short, the richness of Thamil culture and historical traditions is symbolized in the Thamil New Year and Thai Pongal festival. It is a joyous and happy occasion when the poor, the rich, the farmer, the villager all celebrate the harvest festival together irrespective of their individual faith. By celebrating this festival, the Thamils in Diaspora help to perpetuate our rich culture, traditions, literary opulence, sublime philosophy and socio-economic aspirations. Back home although the war is over the majority of war affected people live in squalor and poverty having lost all their precious possessions. Today, they continue to suffer the lingering effects of physical, psychological, economic and cultural violence inflicted by an ethno- religious centric government. Over 350,000 people are still waiting re-settlement in their original homes and fields. For them Pongal celebration is bound to be at a low key. Diaspora Thamils have a crucial role to play so their rights, sovereignty and dignity can be regained. They need liberal financial and material help from Diaspora Thamils.

On this Thamil New Year and Pongal festive day, we should banish superstitious beliefs, darkness of ignorance and egoistic arrogance. Instead lit the light of knowledge and the warmth of human love and compassion among all people irrespective of colour, race and language .

Courtesy: Tamil Mirror

Edited January 15, 201213 yr by akootha