Pongal is just a few days away. In the town of Thiruvarur (Tamil Nadu), locals have started making beautiful netti malas from plants. These are used as a garland for the cattle on Mattu Pongal.The third day of the four-day Pongal celebration is known as Mattu Pongal. Even though the festival’s name is unique to Tamil Nadu, other southern Indian states like Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka also observe it. Makar Sankranti, a holiday that mostly falls around January 14 in Tamil calendars, commemorates the beginning of the Sun’s northern declination from the sign of Sagittarius to Capricorn. The name Mattu in Tamil means bull. Pongal honours cattle in general; particularly bulls, who work extremely hard to assist farmers cultivate crops on their fields. The ceremony takes place on January 15. Coloured garlands made from natural netti plants are used to decorate cattle as a sign of respect to the animals for their contribution to agriculture.
Netti malas are made in very beautiful colours by collecting the netti plants available in rivers and ponds. These are aquatic plants also known as sola and go by the scientific name Aeschynomene aspera. The netti is stripped of the green stalks and left to dry in the sun for at least two days before dyes are added to it. Garlands are manufactured by dyeing netti in colours such as green, crimson, and yellow, then drying it. According to a worker in the Thiruvarur district who has been producing netti malas for the past 16 years, they prepare these malas three months in advance and only sell them during Pongal. He said these garlands are sold at Thiruvarur, Thiruthuraipoondi, Nagapattinam, Mayiladuthurai and other areas.
He said the makers sell these garlands at a price of Rs 5 each to the traders, who then resell them at a suitable price. The worker said that it takes about a week to make a garland and that the profit is meagre.
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