Pongal is one of the most popular harvest festival of South India, mainly Tamil Nadu. With there being Tamils in Malaysia (me included) it’s celebrated here too. Pongal festival lasts for four days and the celebrations include drawing of Kolam & cooking of delicious Pongal (sweet rice that is boiled in a pot until it spills over).

On this occasion farmers pay their respects to the rain, sun and the farm animals, all of which are essentials in any harvest. Also, since paddy and other crops depend on the availability of good rain and Tamil Nadu does not have many perennial water sources, rain and sun gods are invoked during this auspicious occasion. Sort of a Tamil thanksgiving 🙂

(as you can probably tell, most of the information was Google’d 😉 )

Because the Pongal rice is traditionally made in clay pots and decorated, I had to try decorating one on my own. It comes in many sizes and I wanted a really small one, not for cooking purposes but for decoration 🙂
The clay texture allowed me to draw with Sharpies & paint with acrylic. I quite like the Sharpie effect, it’s slightly faded and vintage looking. The yellow acrylic turned out fairly bright in comparison.

How cute would these type of pots look as centerpieces at a Bollywood theme party or wedding? You can use them as vases for flowers, for candles or even with coloured rice in them. The options are endless!   I decided to incorporate my handmade dreamcatcher & make it a cover for the pot. I actually really like how it turned out 🙂

For all of you celebrating, Pongal Valthukal!

Cheering ‘Pongalo Pongal!’,
Harmini Asokumar