Pesta Ponggal is a harvest and thanksgiving festival. It is celebrated during the harvest season, where the first product of the grain is boiled in a clay pot under the sun to pay tribute to the sun for good harvest. The festival’s origins lie with India but it is celebrated widely in Malaysia.
The main event of this festival is the cooking of ponggal, a sweet rice based concoction including milk, water and sugar. To symbolise a bountiful harvest, the boiling froth is forced to spill over the mouth of the pot. Those cooking the ponggal will shout Ponggal!!! Ponggal!!! Ponggal!!!
