French, Spanish, Italians to celebrate Pongal at Auroville

Many of them have never seen a kolam or cooked pongal before but they are going to try anyway. The eighth edition of the Auroville Pongal Festival 2024 will serve a dose of Tamil culture to the foreign nationals at Auroville, especially the first-timers.

The programme will begin on January 15 at 10 am with a short briefing on why and how Pongal is celebrated. “We start off with cooking pongal in a large clay pot,” says Balasundaram, a representative of Mohanam Heritage Centre, the venue of the celebrations.

There will be a traditional dance and music show which will include mudiyattam and other games like stone lifting by local youth,” says Balasundaram. “This will be followed by a kolam competition. The foreign nationals are encouraged to try everything and will be given lessons if needed.”

A new item this year is a flute concert by Kees van Boxtel, an Aurovillian, from the Netherlands. “There will also be a silambam parade and a demonstration of gymnastic yoga this time by locals, all of which is meant to showcase the culture of Tamil Nadu.”

The lunch served will comprise light steamed items like idiyappam, appam, idli, kozhukutta etc. A seminar on Tamil Connections to Asia and the World by Chellaperumal is also part of the half-day programme.

The celebrations are open to all, and foreign nationals from 60 countries across Pondicherry are expected to attend.