Pongal in Chennai: Bhogi, Thai Pongal, Mattu Pongal and Kaanum Pongal Explained

The four days

Pongal (பொங்கல்) is a solar festival, so unlike most Tamil festivals it barely moves: Thai Pongal falls on the first day of the Tamil month of Thai, almost always 14 or 15 January, when the sun enters Capricorn (Makara). It is the same day as Makar Sankranti elsewhere in India. Around it sit three more days:

Day 1	Bhogi — out with the old: bonfires at dawn
Day 2	Thai Pongal — the harvest thanksgiving; the pot boils over
Day 3	Mattu Pongal — cattle are honoured
Day 4	Kaanum Pongal — outings, family visits, the beach

All four are holidays in Tamil Nadu, and the state adds a long weekend when it can. Trains and buses out of Chennai are booked solid weeks ahead as the city goes home to its villages.

Bhogi

Bhogi is spring-cleaning with fire. Homes are scrubbed, old mats, brooms and broken things are heaped in the street and burnt before dawn, and in older neighbourhoods drums go round the lanes at 4 am. The smoke is Chennai’s least charming festival tradition: in some years it has been thick enough to delay early flights at the airport, and the city now campaigns against burning rubber and plastic. If you are flying in on Bhogi morning, expect possible delays. By mid-morning the air clears and new kolams go down on freshly washed doorsteps.

Thai Pongal

The festival takes its name from the dish and the moment. Early in the morning, in the open — a courtyard, a doorstep, a terrace — a new clay or brass pot decorated with turmeric leaves and a fresh turmeric plant tied around its neck is set over a fire. New-harvest rice, milk and jaggery go in, and when the milk boils over the family shouts “Pongalo Pongal!” (“it overflows!”). The cooked sakkarai pongal is offered to the sun on a banana leaf with sugarcane, bananas and coconut, then eaten. The rest of the day is visiting, new clothes and a large lunch.

In Chennai apartments the pot is often on the balcony or the terrace; residents’ associations organise a communal pongal in the car park. Temples such as Kapaleeshwarar and Parthasarathy are busy but it is primarily a home festival. The lanes of Mylapore and Triplicane are the best place to see sugarcane stacked at every door and the biggest kolams of the year.

Mattu Pongal

Mattu means cattle. On the third day cows and bulls are washed, their horns painted and garlanded, and fed pongal; in Chennai you will see decorated cows led through the streets and at temple gates for a blessing. This is also the day of jallikattu, the bull-taming sport, but that happens in the Madurai region (Alanganallur, Palamedu, Avaniyapuram), not in Chennai; it is a 450 km trip and a serious undertaking. In the city, Mattu Pongal is gentle: temples hold a go puja, and in some years the Corporation organises a cattle show.

Kaanum Pongal

Kaanum means “to see”, and on the fourth day the city goes out to see things and each other. Marina Beach hosts one of the largest single-day crowds in India — often reported in the hundreds of thousands — with families picnicking on leftover pongal, balloon sellers, merry-go-rounds and the occasional stampede of excitement near the water. Elliot’s Beach in Besant Nagar, the zoo at Vandalur and Guindy National Park are all packed. In some years the state runs a street festival of folk arts across the city (names and dates change). If you prefer calm, this is the day to stay in Mylapore and watch the Golu-sized kolams instead.

What to eat

Sakkarai pongal (sweet, with jaggery, cashew and ghee) and ven pongal (savoury, with pepper, cumin and ghee) are the festival’s twin dishes, with vadai, payasam, a mixed-vegetable kootu and plenty of sugarcane chewed raw. Restaurants that are open serve pongal specials for the week; the vegetarian chains in T. Nagar and Mylapore do a good version.

Tips for the diaspora and visitors

• Pongal is the Tamil homecoming. If you have family in Chennai this is the week to be there; if you are a tourist, know that much of the city shuts for two days and transport out of town is full.
• Weather is at its best: cool mornings, dry days, around 28 °C. January is the ideal month to visit; see the month-by-month guide.
• Shop early. T. Nagar is at its most crowded in the fortnight before Pongal, when the state’s big shopping season peaks.
• Marina on Kaanum Pongal is an experience but not for small children or anyone who dislikes crowds; go in the late afternoon, do not swim, and keep valuables close.
• The Margazhi music season is in its final days during Pongal week, and Thai Poosam follows later in the month. See our calendar for the dates.

Frequently asked questions