Urban Lifestyles Changing Festival Traditions in India

Celebrations of the four-day harvest festival Pongal in India have changed dramatically with the urban lifestyle, and have tapered off altogether in some regions.
Urban Lifestyles Changing Festival Traditions in India
Two men knit garlands in the flower market in Puducherry, India, on Jan. 15, 2013. These garlands are used during the harvest festival to decorate the home and are offered in temples. (Venus Upadhayaya/The Epoch Times)
Venus Upadhayaya
1/17/2013
Updated:
1/21/2013
<a href="https://www.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2015/07/PrizewinningKolam_IMG_8706_EDITED.jpg"><img class="size-large wp-image-337013" src="https://www.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2015/07/PrizewinningKolam_IMG_8706_EDITED-676x362.jpg" alt="Deepalakshmi shows her first prize winning kolam in a residential locality in Puducherry, India. Competitions are organized by the municipal government to encourage people to preserve their traditions. (Venus Upadhayaya/The Epoch Times) " width="590" height="316"/></a>
Deepalakshmi shows her first prize winning kolam in a residential locality in Puducherry, India. Competitions are organized by the municipal government to encourage people to preserve their traditions. (Venus Upadhayaya/The Epoch Times)

<a href="https://www.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2015/07/Potter_IMG_8736_EDITED.jpg"><img class="size-large wp-image-337014" src="https://www.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2015/07/Potter_IMG_8736_EDITED-676x450.jpg" alt="A potter dusts a painted earthen pot at an open Pongal festival market in Puducherry, India, on Jan. 15, 2013. Families traditionally cook a dish called Pongal—rice, milk, and jaggery (unrefined sugar)—in the new earthen pot as a mark of gratitude to sun." width="590" height="393"/></a>
A potter dusts a painted earthen pot at an open Pongal festival market in Puducherry, India, on Jan. 15, 2013. Families traditionally cook a dish called Pongal—rice, milk, and jaggery (unrefined sugar)—in the new earthen pot as a mark of gratitude to sun.

Many women also paint the earthen pots in vibrant colors. Before cooking, they tie mango leaves and palm leaves around the neck of the pot. The newly cooked rice is offered to the sun at sunrise to express gratitude for the harvest. While women in Puducherry were seen drawing kolams in the street, none were sighted in the city cooking out in the open. 

Gomathi said, “In villages people still cook [Pongal] over an earthen stove, but in Chennai I had to cook it over my induction stove. In cities we feel embarrassed to do it out in the open where [the] street is the only open place.”

According to Gomathi, while earlier the cooking was done for everyone in the neighborhood, today in cities people cook only for themselves. “The culture of exchange is over.”

<a href="https://www.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2015/07/CattleDrawing_IMG_8690_EDITED1.jpg"><img class="size-large wp-image-337058" src="https://www.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2015/07/CattleDrawing_IMG_8690_EDITED1-676x450.jpg" alt="A traditional kolam drawing on the doorway in a street on the third day of the harvest festival Pongal in Puducherry, India, on Jan. 15, 2013. Since people don't have cattle in the city, they celebrate the third day (traditionally meant to thank cattle by feeding them special food), by drawing cattle as motifs in kolams. (Venus Upadhayaya/The Epoch Times)" width="590" height="393"/></a>
A traditional kolam drawing on the doorway in a street on the third day of the harvest festival Pongal in Puducherry, India, on Jan. 15, 2013. Since people don't have cattle in the city, they celebrate the third day (traditionally meant to thank cattle by feeding them special food), by drawing cattle as motifs in kolams. (Venus Upadhayaya/The Epoch Times)

The third day of the festival, called Muttu Pongal, was traditionally celebrated to thank cattle, which play a very important role in the farmer’s life. While the urbanites in Chennai have no reason to thank cattle, in Puducherry, people showed their gratitude by drawing cows as kolams.

In many areas of Puducherry, the kolams on the streets were marked by numbers in order and some were marked as prizewinners. Deepalakshmi, a young girl was excited that her kolam won the first prize among hundreds of houses in her locality. 

While some cooking utensils lay out in the sun drying, her brother sat on a computer in their tiny, single-window home. Deepalakshmi came out and stood near her kolam and said, “I got up at 4 a.m. in the morning to draw this. It took me and my sisters two and a half hours to finish.”

<a href="https://www.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2015/07/Powder_IMG_8752_EDITED1.jpg"><img class="size-large wp-image-337017" src="https://www.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2015/07/Powder_IMG_8752_EDITED1-676x450.jpg" alt="A woman sells powder colors in the old vegetable market in Puducherry, India, on Jan. 15, 2013. These colors are used to draw kolams, a harvest festival tradition. (Venus Upadhayaya/The Epoch Times)" width="590" height="393"/></a>
A woman sells powder colors in the old vegetable market in Puducherry, India, on Jan. 15, 2013. These colors are used to draw kolams, a harvest festival tradition. (Venus Upadhayaya/The Epoch Times)

Traditionally, kolams were done with rice powder and natural powder colors; however, these days people draw them with chalk/lime powder, synthetic colors, and colored salt crystals, which are cheaply and easily available in coastal areas. Deepalakshmi’s kolam was made with colored salt crystals.

On the first day, before sunrise, about 200 women participated in a kolam competition on Promenade Beach organized by the Puducherry government’s Tourism Department. Competitions are one way in which people are encouraged to maintain their traditions amid urban life.

<a href="https://www.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2015/07/ColorKolam_8586_EDITED.jpg"><img class="size-large wp-image-337028" src="https://www.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2015/07/ColorKolam_8586_EDITED-676x450.jpg" alt="A woman participates in a kolam competition on the Promenade Beach, Puducherry, India, on Jan. 13, 2013. The festival was organized by the Puducherry government Tourism Department to encourage people to preserve their traditions and as a tourist attraction. (Venus Upadhayaya/The Epoch Times)" width="590" height="393"/></a>
A woman participates in a kolam competition on the Promenade Beach, Puducherry, India, on Jan. 13, 2013. The festival was organized by the Puducherry government Tourism Department to encourage people to preserve their traditions and as a tourist attraction. (Venus Upadhayaya/The Epoch Times)
<a href="https://www.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2015/07/KolamWhite_IMG_8618_EDITED.jpg"><img class="size-large wp-image-337033" src="https://www.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2015/07/KolamWhite_IMG_8618_EDITED-676x450.jpg" alt="A woman participates in a kolam competition on the Promenade Beach, Puducherry, India, on Jan. 13, 2013. (Venus Upadhayaya/The Epoch Times)" width="590" height="393"/></a>
A woman participates in a kolam competition on the Promenade Beach, Puducherry, India, on Jan. 13, 2013. (Venus Upadhayaya/The Epoch Times)
<a href="https://www.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2015/07/WomanGarland_IMG_8770_EDITED.jpg"><img class="size-large wp-image-337041" src="https://www.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2015/07/WomanGarland_IMG_8770_EDITED-676x450.jpg" alt="A woman knits and sells flowers in the old vegetable market in Puducherry, India, on Jan. 15, 2013. Flowers are used to decorate homes during the harvest festival and women wear them in their hair. (Venus Upadhayaya/The Epoch Times)" width="590" height="393"/></a>
A woman knits and sells flowers in the old vegetable market in Puducherry, India, on Jan. 15, 2013. Flowers are used to decorate homes during the harvest festival and women wear them in their hair. (Venus Upadhayaya/The Epoch Times)
<a href="https://www.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2015/07/MenGarland_8766_EDITED.jpg"><img class="size-large wp-image-337043" src="https://www.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2015/07/MenGarland_8766_EDITED-676x450.jpg" alt="Two men knit garlands in the flower market in Puducherry, India, on Jan. 15, 2013. These garlands are used during the harvest festival to decorate the home and are offered in temples. (Venus Upadhayaya/The Epoch Times)" width="590" height="393"/></a>
Two men knit garlands in the flower market in Puducherry, India, on Jan. 15, 2013. These garlands are used during the harvest festival to decorate the home and are offered in temples. (Venus Upadhayaya/The Epoch Times)

Venus Upadhayaya reports on India, China and the Global South. Her traditional area of expertise is in Indian and South Asian geopolitics. Community media, sustainable development, and leadership remain her other areas of interest.
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