A vibrant multi-day harvest festival will be celebrated by thousands of Tamil expatriates in the kingdom as part of an event organised by the Bharathi Association at the Indian Club in Manama on January 16.
Known as the Festival of Tamils, Thai Pongal coincides with the first day of the Tamil calendar month of Thai.
It will kick off at 7.30am with a Kolam (traditional floor art) competition, and also includes contests such as a tug of war and Uri Adithal (blindfolded pot-breaking challenge) for men, women and children.
Hundreds of gifts will be distributed and participants will partake in traditional Pongal rituals, which include cooking sweet rice in new clay pots. A variety of Tamil cuisines will also be served in the traditional manner on banana leaves.
Tamil traditional dances including Oyil Aattam, Parai Aattam, Kavadi Aattam, Karagattam and variety folk dances will be staged by 62 participants.
https://www.gdnonline.com/Details/1372957/Stage-set-for-Tamil-harvest-festival
