Pongal theological meaning
Pongal Homily
Fr. Bastin
17-1-18
First of all, I wish you all a prosperous happy Pongal. The Pongal suppose to celebrate on Sunday. Then why we celebrate today? Today we celebrate the feast of St. Antony of Egypt. The Christians in Tamilnadu , celebrate Pongal on this day as known as St. Antony Pongal or Christian Pongal.
Pongal is the feast of thanks giving. Pongal means, “Boiling over.” The boiling over of milk in the clay pot symbolizes material abundance for the household. Pongal is the four day celebration. It is not only the feast of Hindus but it is the feast of Dravidians. Each day celebration has its own theological meaning.
1) BHOGI PONGAL:
On this first day the people clean their homes and make a bonfire of all wasted material. This domestic sanitation ritual is symbolic of a spiritual cleansing.
For Christians, it signifies metanoia that means the conversion of heart and mind, and total return to God. This is turning away from the past sinful life and entering into the newness of life with hope. St. Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5:17 “if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.” So Bhogi means that coming out from the sorrowful life to entering into the new joyful life.
2) PONGAL:
The main Pongal is celebrated on the second day, known as "Thai Pongal," There is a saying “Thai Pirandhal Vazhi Pirakkum” which means “the commencement of Thai paves the way for new opportunities”. "Thai" is the first day of Tamil month. On this day, the newness of life is celebrated with joy and gratitude to God, Nature and human labor.
The main event on this day is cooking and joyfully sharing "pongal," special rice made with sugar milk and spices. On the day, the new rice is cooked in a new pot. When the boiling rice overflows, the family and neighbors standing around the pot joyfully acclaim, "Pongalo, pongal!" Then the rice is shared by all present in an act of fellowship.
In the Old Testament (Exodus 23:16), the feast of harvest was celebrated as the feast of first fruits festival. It later became the feast of Pentecost. The main theme of Pentecost is the gift of Holy Spirit is overflowing to human family.
Pongal reminds Christians that the human heart starts overflowing with love, expressed in actions of sharing. Pongal celebration ends up in a sharing the Pongal to our neighbors and reminds us "agape," the love meal of the early Church.
Pongal also reminds us the themes of the Eucharist in which Christ Himself becomes our food and drink. So the Eucharist is the Supreme Pongal, in which God shares his overflowing love to human being.
3) MAATTU PONGAL:
The third day is a festivity for the bulls that work in the fields helping humans to produce the harvest; it is a day to express our gratitude to the animals.
This feast strongly expresses man´s intimate relationship with nature, and helps Christians to remind that instead of dominating and exploiting nature, our responsibility is to serve nature and to enable it to serve humanity. Maattu Pongal culturally offers a vision for man´s relationship with nature.
4) KAANUM PONGAL:
It is a day for visiting friends and relatives and to exchange our greetings. It is providing the opportunity for socialization. It is an occasion to strengthen our social relationships by exchanging our love and joy with others especially with our relatives and friends. It reminds us Christians that God is in relationship. God relates with human being through his only son Jesus Christ. Through Him, we are relating with God.
So on this auspicious day, once again I wish you all happy Pongal and ask you to pray for the farmers who are the real hero of the Pongal.
