Indonesia Tamil Sangam (ITS), a network and association of Tamil community, celebrated the Pongal harvest festival on Jan. 27 in Cibubur, East Jakarta. As many as 350 members of ITS, who live in Jakarta and nearby areas, attended the event. Senior officers from the Indian Embassy and office-bearers from other Indian community associations were also in attendance.

The celebration involved worshipping the sun, women conducting the custom together, cultural performance of various types of folk dances by children and Tamil traditional food prepared by a cook from Tamil Nadu, India.

ITS made special arrangments for cooking Pongal, which is a sweet dish made of rice and lentil cooked in a clay pot heated by firewood, as the main course. Eight sets of such clay pots with firewood were arranged.

A number of activities were held during the event. Among the important highlights were horse cart rides for children. Around 40 adult couples opted to participate in the Couple Lunch activity, in which each couple is served a single banana leaf to share and remember the early days of their marriage.

This Couple Lunch, which had been open for registration days before the festival, was highly welcomed.

Indian Tamil comedian actor Mayilsamy attended the festival as a special guest, entertaining the audience with a hilarious speech and jokes. Audience members were later able to take photos with Mayilsamy in a photo booth.

Pongal is joyously celebrated over four days by Tamil communities across the globe. ITS arranged the gala event to showcase the importance and value of Tamil culture.

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