About Pongal
Pongal is the Tamil harvest festival, a thanksgiving to the Sun, the rain, the land and the cattle that work it. In 2027 the Pongal days begin on Thursday, 14 January 2027 and run through four days: Bhogi, Thai Pongal, Mattu Pongal and Kaanum Pongal. Thai Pongal is the first day of Thai, the tenth Tamil month, and the Tamil Nadu government also calls the festival Uzhavar Thirunal, the farmers' day.
The festival is named after what happens in the pot. Pongal comes from the Tamil verb pongu, to boil over. New rice from the harvest is cooked in milk in a fresh clay pot until it rises and spills down the sides, and the spill is the point. Nobody wipes it up in a hurry.
Thai Pongal falls on the first day of Thai, the tenth month of the Tamil solar calendar, when the Sun enters Makara. There is an old Tamil line for it: Thai pirandhal vazhi pirakkum, when Thai is born a way opens. It is said to households waiting out a hard patch, and it is why Thai is a month for weddings, house-warmings and new ventures.
What are the four days of Pongal?
The four days of Pongal are Bhogi, Thai Pongal, Mattu Pongal and Kaanum Pongal, running from the last day of Margazhi into the first days of Thai.
- Day 1 · BhogiClearing out
The last day of Margazhi. Old mats, broken vessels and worn clothes are burnt at dawn, homes are cleaned and whitewashed, and prayers go to Indra for the rain that made the crop.
- Day 2 · Thai PongalThe pot boils over
The main day. The pongal is cooked outdoors facing east as the sun rises and offered to Surya, and everyone calls out "Pongalo Pongal" as it spills.
- Day 3 · Mattu PongalThe cattle's day
Bulls and cows are bathed, their horns painted and tipped with brass, garlands and bells put on, and they are fed the pongal first. Jallikattu and manju virattu are held in the Madurai belt.
- Day 4 · Kaanum PongalGoing to see people
Kaanum means to see. Families visit relatives, siblings and elders, and beaches, parks and riverbanks in Chennai and the districts fill up from morning.
How is the Pongal pot made?
On Thai Pongal the pongal is cooked outdoors in a new clay pot: new rice, milk and jaggery, started facing east as the sun comes up and allowed to boil over on purpose.
- Draw the kolamRice flour patterns at the doorstep before sunrise, often with a red kaavi border and a pumpkin flower at the centre of each grid.
- Set the potA new clay pongapanai, a fresh turmeric plant with its leaves tied around the neck, and two whole sugarcane stalks propped at the door.
- Cook facing eastNew rice, milk and jaggery on a wood or gas fire in the open, started as the sun comes up.
- Let it spillThe rice is allowed to boil over deliberately. The family shouts "Pongalo Pongal", a conch is blown in some homes.
- Offer, then eatThe first serving goes to Surya on a plantain leaf with sugarcane, banana and coconut. Then sakkarai pongal, sweet with jaggery and cashew, and ven pongal, savoury with pepper, cumin and ghee.
Sugarcane is the other marker of the day. Tamil Nadu's cane harvest lands here, and every street corner sells stalks taller than the buyer.
Cattle, and jallikattu
Mattu Pongal is a working household's thank-you to the animals that pulled the plough. In villages with no bulls left, the day still runs: the cow is washed, painted and garlanded, and children are sent with pongal to the neighbour who keeps cattle.
Jallikattu, the bull-chasing event held mainly around Madurai at Avaniyapuram, Palamedu and Alanganallur, sits inside this. The Supreme Court banned the use of bulls in such events in 2014. Tamil Nadu passed its own amendment to the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act in 2017 after weeks of protest, and on 18 May 2023 a five-judge Constitution Bench upheld that amendment, letting jallikattu, kambala and bullock-cart racing continue under state rules. If you plan to watch, events are ticketed and fenced now, and spectators are kept behind barricades.
On Mattu Pongal or Kaanum Pongal, depending on the family, women and girls perform kanu pidi: coloured rice and a little of yesterday's pongal are set out on turmeric leaves for crows and birds, with a prayer for brothers' wellbeing.
How is the date of Pongal decided?
Thai Pongal is fixed to the Sun, not the moon, which is why it lands on 14 or 15 January every year rather than moving across weeks. When the Sun's entry into Makara happens after sunset, Thai begins the next day, and the whole four-day run shifts with it. The same solar moment is Makar Sankranti in the north and west, Magh Bihu in Assam and Maghi in Punjab the day after Lohri.
Tamil Nadu and Puducherry treat this as the main holiday of the year. The state normally gives Pongal day, then Thiruvalluvar Day for the Tamil poet of the Tirukkural, then Uzhavar Thirunal, the farmers' festival, so offices and schools close for a stretch and intercity buses run extra services. Tamils in Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Singapore, Mauritius and the Gulf keep the same days.
The festival is old. A Chola-period inscription at the Veeraraghava Swamy temple in Thiruvallur, from the reign of Kulottunga I, records a grant of land for the annual Pongal celebration.
What to say
- Thai
- The tenth Tamil month, beginning at Thai Pongal
- Pongu
- To boil over; the verb the festival is named after
- Pongapanai
- The new clay pot the pongal is cooked in
- Kolam
- Rice-flour patterns drawn at the doorstep before dawn
- Uzhavar Thirunal
- The farmers' festival, the government's name for the Pongal holiday
- Iniya Thai Pongal Nalvazhthukkal
- Sweet Thai Pongal greetings, the usual Tamil wish
Iniya Thai Pongal Nalvazhthukkal, Amma and Appa. Save me a plate of sakkarai pongal. I will call the moment the pot goes on.
Pongalo Pongal! Wishing you and your family a very happy Pongal and a Thai month that opens every door.
Happy Pongal to you and your family. Hope you get the full four days at home and come back with sugarcane.
Pongal nalvazhthukkal. May the harvest be heavy this year and the price be fair. Thank you for the work the rest of us eat from.
Happy Pongal. I know you are cooking it on an induction stove in a flat with no doorstep for a kolam. It still counts. Let it boil over.
Iniya Pongal nalvazhthukkal, Thatha and Paatti. The kolam you taught me is on my doorstep this morning, crooked as usual.
Happy Pongal, da. Kanu pidi done, crows fed, your share of the prayers included. Come home for Kaanum Pongal.
Wishing you a very happy Pongal. We have made extra ven pongal, so please send someone across in the morning.
Do
- Say "Happy Pongal" rather than "Happy Makar Sankranti" to a Tamil friend; it is the name they use.
- Send your wish on Thai Pongal morning, while the pot is on, not the night before.
- If you are visiting, carry fruit, sugarcane or sweets, and take off your shoes before stepping over the kolam.
Avoid
- Don't treat it as a one-day festival when you plan work calls; many families travel to their village for all four days.
- Don't assume every Tamil household does jallikattu or even watches it. Opinion on it is divided within the state.
- Don't gift leather or alcohol; many homes keep the Thai Pongal meal vegetarian and the day ritually clean.
How to wish someone on Pongal
Pongal wishes are about gratitude and a fresh start, not luck or wealth. The Tamil line people actually use is "Iniya Thai Pongal Nalvazhthukkal". Name the part of the festival your reader keeps: the pot boiling over in the morning, the kolam their mother draws, the trip to the village, the cattle at home. Wish a farming family a good crop and a good price. If you are writing to a colleague, remember it is a four-day festival and many people travel.
Write a few lines in your own words, pick a design and share it as one link on WhatsApp, Instagram or anywhere else. They open an animated card made just for them, with no app and no sign-up.
Language tip: English, Hindi + regional language.
When is Pongal in 2026 and 2027?
Pongal is set by the Hindu solar calendar, so it falls on a different date each year. In 2027 it falls 1 day later than in 2026. Pongal runs 4 days.
- 2026
- 2027
Frequently asked questions
When is Pongal in 2027?
Pongal 2027 falls from Thursday, 14 January 2027 to Sunday, 17 January 2027.
What does the word Pongal mean?
Pongal comes from the Tamil verb pongu, meaning to boil over. It names both the festival and the dish: new rice boiled with milk and jaggery in a fresh clay pot until it rises and spills over the rim, which is taken as a sign of plenty in the year ahead.
Which of the four days is the main one?
Thai Pongal, the second day, is the main one. It falls on the first day of the Tamil month of Thai, the morning the pongal is cooked and offered to the Sun. Bhogi comes before it, and Mattu Pongal and Kaanum Pongal follow.
How do you wish someone in Tamil on Pongal?
Say "Iniya Thai Pongal Nalvazhthukkal", which means sweet Thai Pongal greetings. On the morning itself people also call out "Pongalo Pongal" as the pot boils over, and either line works in a message.
What is the difference between Pongal and Makar Sankranti?
They are the same solar event, the Sun's entry into Makara, kept differently. Makar Sankranti is a single day marked with sesame sweets, kites and river baths across north and west India; Pongal is a four-day Tamil festival centred on the harvest, the Sun and the cattle, and begins the Tamil month of Thai.
Why are cattle worshipped on Mattu Pongal?
Mattu Pongal is a thank-you to the bulls and cows that plough, draw carts and give milk. They are bathed, their horns painted, garlands and bells put on, and they are fed the pongal before the family eats. Jallikattu in the Madurai region falls on this day in many villages.
Is jallikattu legal?
Yes, in Tamil Nadu. The Supreme Court banned the use of bulls in such events in 2014, Tamil Nadu amended the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act in 2017 to allow jallikattu, and on 18 May 2023 a five-judge Constitution Bench upheld that amendment, subject to the state's safety rules.
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