The festival “Thai Pongal” is celebrated to honor the sun god, the farmers and the cattle thanking them for a good harvest throughout the year. The “Wella Pongal” is a signature project organized by the Rotaract Club of Wellawatte under the Club Services avenue bringing everyone together to remark this traditional festival. Usually, everyone gets together to prepare Pongal and honor the sun god. Members of the other clubs are also warmly invited to join in the celebrations and the traditional games that follow. This year due to the pandemic, after considerable thought and careful consideration it was decided to celebrate Wella Pongal in a slightly different manner. It consisted only of RAC Wella members, this session was recorded and telecasted via the zoom platform on January 14th (Thai Pongal Day) at 10 AM, where members from other Rotaract Clubs and the general public could join us virtually in the celebrations. It should also be noted that the PHI and police approval was obtained for the gathering, and the safety protocols such as wearing masks, sanitizing and maintaining social distancing were carefully followed during the event.
The “Wella Pongal 2021”, was successfully held for the 9th consecutive time on the 14th of January 2021, chaired by our very own Club Services Director, Rtr.Manoraj Rajarathnam and co-chaired by Rtr.Kiruthikan Sritharan. This event was graced by the Thai Pongal message of our District Rotaract Representative Rotarian Rtr. Past President. Kasun Kavindra Sigera, who joined us through the virtual platform.
This event took place at the Natures Edge Holiday Resort & Villa, where all the members of the club were actively engaged in the event by contributing to bring the necessary things for decorations and the ingredients to make the Pongal. The place was decorated by drawing “Kolam” which is one of the most attractive cultural rituals of the festival. It is a tradition of Hindus to keep “Kumbam” during auspicious activities. Along with that, sugarcanes were placed, thoranam and mango leaves were hung and the fireplace was prepared. This cultural atmosphere was further enhanced by the beautifully dressed up ladies and gentlemen of our club in their best traditional attires.
The event began with religious observances, where the fire hearth was lit during the auspicious time, and the decorated Pongal pot was placed on the fire hearth. Milk was poured in to the Pongal pot and once it started to boil and spill over from the sides of the pot, each of us took turns in adding raw rice into it, praying for a prosperous year ahead. When the rice started to boil and overflow out of the pot, everyone joyfully cried out as “Pongalo Pongal!”, meaning, “may this rice boil over”, which symbolizes the upcoming greater fortunes for this year. Once the Pongal was half cooked, ingredients such as jaggery (sugar), and other necessary spices along with the plums and cashew nuts which were freshly roasted in ghee, were added and mixed with the Pongal.
This fresh aromatic scent filled in the atmosphere and made us more excited and more hungrier, but we had to just stare at the Pongal pot until the delicious sweet meal of the day, the “Sakkarai Pongal” gets all set and ready to go in our mouths. And yess, we have reached the most awaited time of the day, where the Pongal is fully cooked and all good to go….yayyyy!! But wait…...something stopped us from having the Pongal…What was it…?? Oh my god, yes how did we forget it! I think you have guessed it right! Yep, the final offering and prayers are yet to go! …. Hmmm…Alright, we have some more time to fill our stomachs, now let’s get started with our next rituals!
The prepared “Pongal” was carefully placed on the banana leaf along with the other sweet meals and fruits, facing the East (towards the direction of the rising sun), as an expression of gratitude. Along with that we had the rituals and prayers, where the devotional songs, “Thevaaram” were sung by our prospective member Atshya Panchalingam.
Yess, no more waiting… Finally, we could enjoy the delicious dish of the day! The “Sakkarai Pongal” was served to everyone and we enjoyed every bit of it on our own pace, slowly but happily! We not only rejoiced having the Pongal, but we were also delighted to meet each and every one after a very long time and were joyful of each other’s presence. This entire team work from decorating the place to preparing Pongal was thoroughly enjoyed by all with great laughs and talks, making it another opportunity on collecting more beautiful memories for the day.
Up next were some exciting activities organized by our very own club members. The Wella Pongal event was hosted in Tamil by Rtr. Rohul Abinath, in Sinhala by Rtr. Azam Khan and in English by Rtr. Frank Joseph. There was an entertaining interviewing session for the members, where they were asked a special question, “What is that one thing you had last year, which you do not have this year?”, All the members were giving out comments on their unique thoughts and views for this question and they were also sharing their experiences on the “Wella Pongal” event. It was all laughter and giggles seeing our hosts trying to get different answers from each of the members.
There was another special event for the day, the “cover song session”. This was a session, where our club members exhibited their amazing music and singing skills and have done a wonderful mashup for the Wella Pongal event. This was performed by Rtr. Liana Andrew, Rtr. Thulackshy Mohan, Rtr. Thushana Sathasivam, Rtr. Ajanthan Jeganathan and Rtr .Rohul Abinath. It was indeed a stunning session and this mash up was appreciated by all the other club members as well.
We are thankful for the Thulirgal dance group from Jaffna, for their amazing dancing performance, which excited and thrilled the participants during the virtual session. Our special gratitude for our video editor Rtr. Mathesh Gunarathnam, Music composer Kishawn Christy, Beat Boxer Pradeesh Paheerathan, Jo Perera for Instruments, the team “Day to remember” for the videography and all the others who were there to support us throughout the event and making it a successful and a memorable one.
Written by:
Atshya Panchalingam