The Indian Thanksgiving

I have been hearing that analogy pretty much everywhere, so thought I'd share it with you. Here's wishing all fellow Indians a very Happy Pongal, Bihu, Bhogi, Lohri, Sankranti and so on ...

Pongal in the state of Tamil Nadu is celebrated during the same time as 'Bhogali Bihu' in the North Eastern State of Assam, 'Lohri' in Punjab, 'Bhogi' in Andhra Pradesh and 'Makar Sankranti' in the rest of the country, including Karnataka, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Bengal. From: http://hinduism.about.com/

This is traditionally a day of reflection. People express their graditude to Mother Nature for the plentiful harvest and pray for a successful future. These festiivals with different names throughout India, are comparable to the festival of Thanksgiving which is celebrated in the US and Canada in November, and to several other festivals from different parts of the world such as the Jewish- Sukkot, Chinese- Zhong Qui, Greek- Thesmophoria, Roman- Celeria, and the Eyptian custom of honouring Min the god of fertility and vegetation.

I remember as children, we left the praying and all those serious stuff to the elders and just had fun watching our moms drawing exquisite kolam patterns with rice powder at the door steps, cooking wonderful meals with sweet coconut stuffings, and of course hogging all the delicacies at our disposal. So have fun and stuff yourself if you can still afford some innocent indulgence.