UNOOV

Hindus across Sri Lanka celebrated Thai Pongal, a Hindu harvest festival dedicated to the Sun God. The festival is a public holiday in Sri Lanka. The Hindus, among them,
are celebrating the “Pongal” harvest festival, popularly known as Thai Pongal, celebrated in the first four days of the Thai month in the Tamil-Hindu calendar.

Tamil culture has been forgotten for various reasons for many years, but now citizens are responsible for restoring them and giving back to society. This Pongal festival was concluded with a noble purpose. Notably, many of the village organisations have worked closely to conduct this event successfully.

That is why the Eastern University Alumni Association of Sri Lanka (EUAAS) organised a Regional Pongal Festival in collaboration with the Eastern Hindu Religious and Social Development Association (EHRSDA) in Thikkodai Village, Batticaloa on 19 January.  

This Festival was chaired by NHRDC Assistant Director S. Thanigaseelan who represented the Eastern University Alumni Association of Sri Lanka. The Chief Guests were Ministry of Education, Eastern Province and Divisional Secretariat Porativu Pattu, Batticaloa Provincial Director S. Navaneethan, EHRSDA President T. Thusyanthan, and Ranaviru Housing Scheme, Ampara District In-Charge Geerthi Jayawardana.

The traditional walk started from Ganesha Maha Vidyalaya, Thikkodi to commemorate the heritage of the Tamils and the farmers. After that, the Pongal Celebration commenced following the Pooja events and ended with a number of stage programs.

S. Thanigaseelan said “Today, the event's heroes are our farmers and we have to celebrate them. But today, they are living in poverty and very poor conditions. Most of Batticaloa’s residents are engaged in agriculture – especially paddy farming. Overall, 58% of workers are employed in the agriculture and fisheries sector. Adverse weather and climatic changes, capital shortages, high input costs, access to credit difficulties, and poor quality of output affect agricultural productivity in Batticaloa and impact farmers' incomes. Because of this, the majority of these workers are poor due to low product and income levels from employment. So we will be grateful to them, and my humble appeal is that we should focus on recovering the farmers and improving them in the near future.”