Bhogi Pongal is the first day of the four-day Pongal festival. This celebration of the harvest is the biggest event of the year for the Tamils as well as many other people of Andhra Pradesh.
Bhogi Pongal is devoted to Bhog or Indran, the rain god, and is also linked to the mythological tale about Krishna lifting Mount Gobardhan on his little finger.
After beginning the day with an oil bath, people clean their homes and adorn them with Kolam designs, drawn with white paste of newly-harvested rice and outlined with red mud. In villages, yellow pumpkin flowers are set out in cow-dung balls in the middle of the designs.
Later in the day the people of every home gather together all their old cloths, mats and rugs and make a bonfire. The burning of all that is old is symbolic of the starting of a fresh new year.
The bonfire is kept burning throughout the night while boys beat little drums known as Bhog Kottus, made from buffalo hide.
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