Pongal is the Tamil equivalent of Thanksgiving. We are fortunate to encounter this festival during our pilgrimage. At the Ashram, local villagers and some of the women members of the community wake up much before the break of dawn and begin to create intricate cosmological diagrams called "kolam" out of colored flour, meant to invite good fortune and prosperity.

A special oven, built out of earth and cow dung, is used only once during the year for the express purpose of the Pongal ritual. The oven is sanctified by special markings so that the food cooked would be blessed by the Divine.

The Pongal ritual is fairly simple and in keeping with local customs. Thanks and praise is offered for the year's harvest, a blessing is said, a coconut is broken, songs are sung, and sugar cane is handed around to remind ourselves of the sweetness of God's love. The breaking of a coconut is very common in Hindu rituals. It signifies our willingness to allow the hard shell of the ego and its outmoded habits to be broken to allow for the authentic self to emerge.

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