Pongal is a harvest festival observed by the Tamil people. It is a festival to thank the Sun, Mother Nature, and the various farm animals who contribute to a bountiful harvest.
The four-day festival honours and commemorates the Sun's northward journey. It also represents the end of winter. Pongal is an ancient festival that dates back to the Sangam period, which lasted from 200 BC to 300 AD.
The most common Pongal ritual is to clean the house and the entire area where you live. On all four days of the festival, all members of the family gather to take a bath early in the morning.
Pongal gifts range from Lord Sun sculptures to good luck plants, or one can easily opt for a grand Pongal hamper that is sure to please loved ones. Sweets and dried fruits are always a good choice for any festival because they are universally loved.
Stalin stated that the festival gift would be given to 2,19,33,342 families at a cost of Rs 2,429.05 crore. Aside from the cash component, the gift pack includes raw rice and sugar (one kilo each), a full piece of sugarcane, as well as a dhothi and a saree to all 'rice' category family card holders and inmates of Rehabilitation Camps for Sri Lankan Tamils (refugees).
Rs 487.92 crore has been set aside to implement the free dhoti and saree distribution scheme for Pongal. To commemorate the State-wide launch, the Chief Minister distributed gift packs to people at a low-cost shop here.
To avoid crowding, tokens indicating the date and time of receipt of the hamper were distributed to recipients.
K N Nehru (Municipal Administration), M R K Panneerselvam (Agriculture and Farmers Welfare), K Ponmudi (Higher Education), and other state ministers and officials attended.
