Pongal

Over the weekend the people of Tamil Nadu celebrated Pongal, a harvest festival.  On Saturday our friend Padma took us to a village two hours outside of Chennai for a Pongal celebration.  There we visited her farmer friend and got a little taste of village life. 

This was the Pongal celebration in front of our house.  The main dish of Pongal is a sweet rice/lentil mixture, that's what they're cooking here. 

This guy is selling decorations for the cow Pongal, done one day after the human Pongal.  Farmers decorate their cows to thank them for helping with the harvest. 

 Village homes. 

 Here's our Pongal feast.

The farmer is on the left.  Padma is in the middle.  And yes, that's a loincloth, it went right up his butt!