Friday, August 24, 2007

Festivals and Rituals

Avani Avittam (For Yajur Vedics)

• Falls in the month of Adi or Avani on the full moon day
• Rishi tharpanam is performed first
• Bachelors do 'Samitha daanam' and 'kamo karshith' japam after Maha sankalpam and then perform
• kaanda Rishi tharpanam- All these rituals can be performed with the help of family priest or elders
• All the male members should have a light meal at night
• Next day after bath, every one should perform the 'Gayathri Japam'
• The first Avani avittam that falls in the first year of one's thread marriage is called 'Thalai Avani avittam'
• Green Gram Dhal or Kondai Kadalai Sundal will be offered as Neivedhyam for the Homam' Appam & Idli will be served in the morning after japam.
• The Homam will be performed either in the house or in temples organized by Vadhyars of that area. After • that Arthi will be performed when they return home.
• Neivedhyam - Payasam, Vadai, Gingely seeds, Rice
• The other items that are to be served on this day are Curd Pachadi, Kosumalli Curry, Koottu, Pitlay,
buttermilk, soup, rasam, dhal and chips, appalams

Avani Avittam (For rig Vedic)

• Falls on 'Sukla Paksha chaaturdasi', the day prior to the full moon day.
• For rig vedics there will be no kamokarsheeth japam or Homam. They will wear the sacred thread after chanting the usual mantras for changing the thread in the morning.
• The remaining things are the same as for Yajur vedics

Avani Avittam (For Sama Vedics)

Celebrate the upakarmam on 'Ganesh Chathurthi day. All the remaining items are to be performed as per Yajur Vedas

Gokulashtami
• Falls on "Krishna paksha", Ashtami thithi i.e. eighth day after Avani Avittam
• Some elders fast on this day
• Birthday of Lord Krishna - pooja will be performed
• Neivedhyam - Murukku, Salt cheedai, Jaggery cheedai, kola vadai, Pal payasam, Aval, Jaggery, Butter, Cow's milk, Curd, banana, guava, black berry (Naval pazham) Wood apple, country apple, grapes etc.
• Pooja is to be performed in the evening/night after lighting the lamp and offering Neivedhyam
• For Vaishnavites, this festival falls on the "Rohini" star day.


Ganesh Chathurthi
• Falls on 'Avani' (shravan) on 'Sukla paksha, Chathurthi dhithi'
• Birthday of Sri Vinayakar
• This pooja will be performed to finish up our work without any hurdles, to get success to eradicate all our problems and find solutions for our problems
• Buy hand-made Vinayaka Idols, Erukamboo mala, Vilva leaves, Arugam pullu and other flowers to do
pooja
• Neivedhyams - Five Varieties of Kozhukattais (Coconut, black gram dhal, gingely seeds, modakam and round kozhukattais), Raw rice Idlis, vadai, payasam and Maha Neivedhyam (cooked rice with a spoon
of ghee poured on top), Gingely seeds balls (Ellurundai), Appam, Aval. Fruits - bananas, guavas,
country apples, naval fruits, tender cucumber and wood apples may also be used.
• Elders will observe vratham or fast on this day. After doing pooja they will have only neivedhyam items. They will offer Daanam to one Brahmachari after giving food along with dakshinai

Malaya Paksham
• Is observed at the end of Avani or Puratassai starting on 'Prathama' (after full moon day) and concluding after the fifteenth day, on 'amavasai'
• Those who have lost their father should perform 'tharpanam' on the day (thithi) coinciding with the day of the death of the father.
• Those, whose mothers are alive, should perform (Hiranya shrardham) with four Vedic priests. If both parents are not alive, the Shrardha should be performed with five priests.
• Shrardha can be performed in two ways, one is by offering dakshinai only and the other is by feeding
them and offering dakshinai as well. The items to be prepared include payasam, Vadai, Poli,
Thenkozhal, Appam; Gingely seeds balls (Ellurundai). The ingredients should be fried and freshly ground.
• If Shrardham could not be performed on the specified day due to circumstances, it may be performed on the following days viz. Mahabarani, maha vidhiapadham and madyaashtami.
• Those who perform this shrardham should have a light meal at night.


Navarathri Festival
• Falls on the first day after the new moon day in the Tamil Month 'Purattasi' (Sep-Oct)
• The house should be thoroughly washed and cleaned and kolam patterns should be drawn
• For keeping 'kolu', steps can be set on 'amavasya' day, a pair of wooden toys of a boy and a girl is placed on the kolu steps and the other dolls are arranged on the next day.
• In some houses a kalasam, a narrow mouthed vessel (Sombhu) will be smeared with lime and rice is filled in it. Mango leaves and a coconut (smeared with turmeric powder) are kept at its mouth and the kalasam is placed on the steps.
• Some sweets, snacks, sundal or fruits can be offered as 'neivedhyam' and the invitees will be given the above items with betel leaves, nuts, turmeric and kumkum along with whole coconuts, blouse material
etc. according to one's own convenience .


Saraswathi Pooja
• Pooja is performed to Goddess Saraswati · All the study books and musical instruments (if available) are kept in the Pooja room and decorated with flowers and incense sticks.
• Neivedhyam will be Payasam, Vadai, Sojji appam or sukhiyan and Bengal gram Sundal
• After pooja, one kannigai will be gifted with blouse material, betel leaves, nuts, bananas, bangles,
coconut etc.

Vijayadasami
• This is performed the day after Saraswati pooja with the traditional offering Maha neivedhyam along with betel leaves, nuts and bananas.
• The books are taken out from the pooja room and some portions read out from it. Those who know Music (vocal or instruments) should sing songs
• This day is an auspicious day to start or learn anything and one will be successful in that line. This is the reason why children start schooling on this day. One can learn any art on this day.
• That night the two wooden dolls should be kept on the kolu steps in a sleeping position and the next day all the dolls are removed
Deepavali - Naraka Chathurdasi
• This is celebrated in the Tamil month of "Aipasi' on Chathurdasi thithi preceding amavasai
• All the family members should have an oil bath early in the morning. This is equivalent to the benefits derived by taking a dip in the Ganges.
• After bath they can eat sweets, snacks, Idli along with a small quantity of Deepavali lehiyam. · New dresses will be offered to all members of the family by the head.
• For newly married couples the first Deepavali is called Thalai Deepavali. They are offered gifts, dresses etc. along with sweets.
• Children play with firecrackers. Visits are made to Friends/Relatives houses- Sweets are distributed to all
• Neivedhyam items are Payasam, Sweets and Snacks

Karthika Deepam
• Is celebrated on the full moon day in the Tamil month of "Karthigai"(November-December)
• This festival is celebrated on different days by Saivaites and Vaishnavites. All Saivaites celebrate
Karthigai only on the day when Annamalai Deepam is lit at the famous Thiruvannamalai Temple
• All Sumangalis and girls have an oil bath on this day. After cleaning and washing the house, mud lamps are placed on wooden planks and then lit. The place should be decorated with kolams. The brass kuthu vilakku and other oil lamps should be cleaned well, applied with sandal paste and kumkum, flowers etc. After 5 o' clock the kuthu villakku and all the mud lamps are lit.
• Neivedhyam items are puffed rice cakes sweetened with jaggery and puffed beaten rice flakes with jaggery, Appam, Adai, betel leaves, nuts and bananas.
• All brothers give money to their sisters and the sisters in turn pray for their brother's well being during this festival. New clothes are also offered.
• During the first year after marriage, the girls will be given 'Thalai Karthikai' as a gift


Vaikunta Ekadasi
• Falls in the Tamil month of "Margazhi" on the Ekadasi day following 'amavasai'. · On this day elders fast throughout the day
• Next day morning i.e. on Dwadasi day, meals will be taken much earlier than the usual hours.
• Nellimulli curd pachadi, agathi keerai curry, bitter nut (sundakkai), vattal kuzhambu, payasam etc.
• Have Perumal dharshan at Temple
Thiruvathirai
• This day falls in Margazhi (Dec-Jan) on the pournami day
• Birthday of Lord Siva
• Neivedhyam items are Kali and 'Ezhu kari kuzhambu', banana fruits, betel leaves, nuts

Bhogi Pandigai
• This will be celebrated at the end of Margazhi (Dec-Jan) · The entire house should be washed, cleaned and decorated with kolams.
• In the early morning all the wasted/unused items should be burnt · Neivedhyam - Payasam, Vadai,
Poli etc.

Pongal (Sankranthi )
• This will fall on the first day of the Tamil Month 'Thai' (Jan-Feb) · Pithiru tharpanam will have to be performed by the persons who have lost their fathers.
• Pooja is to be done to Sun God
• Neivedhyam - Ven Pongal, Sarkarai Pongal, Vadai, Sugarcane, Ginger
• Ginger and Turmeric bunches will be tied around the mouth of the vessel for preparing pongal.
• In rural areas this function is celebrated in a grand manner

Thursday, August 23, 2007

முதுமை பற்றி..

முதுமை என்பது நம் வாழ்கையின் ஒரு பகுதி. அதுவரை வருவதே ஒரு வரம். இந்த பதிவுகளில் முதுமையை பற்றி என்ன சொல்லியிருக்கிறார்கள்.. சொடக்கிப் பார்க்கவும்..

http://manggai.blogspot.com/2006/10/growing-old.html

http://thekkikattan.blogspot.com/2005/10/blog-post_112975875971348634.html

முதியோர் என்பதை விட பெரியோர் என்று சொல்வது நல்லது. நம்மை பெற்றவர்கள் நம்மை விட பெரியவர்கள் .. அவர்களைப் பற்றியும்.. நாம் பெற்ற குழந்தைகள் நம்மை விட சிறியவர்கள் அவர்களைப் பற்றியும் இந்த பதிவில் அலசி இருக்கிறார்கள்

http://kaattaaru.blogspot.com/2007/08/blog-post_15.html

Monday, August 20, 2007

படித்ததில் பிடித்தது

பணம் சம்பாதிக்க முயன்றால் பேராசைக்காரன்.
பணத்தைத் தாராளமாகச் செலவிழித்தால் பைத்தியக்காரன்.
பணத்தை சிரம்மின்றி சம்பதித்தால் அயோக்கியன்.
கஷ்டப்பட்டு சம்பாதித்து பணத்தைச் சேமித்து வைத்தால் முட்டாள்.
சேமித்து வைத்ததைச் செல்வழிக்கவே இல்லையெனில் கஞ்சன்



நாடோடியின் 'ஸ்திரிகள் ஜாக்ரதை'தொகுப்பிலிருந்து - தினமணி 20 ஆகஸ்ட் 2007

Tuesday, August 14, 2007

to break the bear bottle..

விபரீத விளையாட்டு.. பாத்து பண்ணுங்க...


Online Videos by Veoh.com

Saturday, August 4, 2007

Thursday, August 2, 2007

Solar Family

Check this weblink which gives you information about planets and more information..

http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/index.cfm

Jokes - சிரிக்க ரசிக்க..

The manager of a large corporation got a heart attack, and the doctor told him to go for several weeks to a farm to relax. The guy went to a farm, and after a couple of days he was very bored, so he asked the farmer to give him some job to do.
The farmer told him to clean the shit of the cows. The farmer thought that to somebody coming from the city working the whole life sitting in an office, it would take over a week to finish the job, but to his surprise the manager finished the job in less than one day.
The next day the farmer gave to the manager a more difficult job to cut the heads of 500 chickens. The farmer was sure that the manager will not be able to the job, but at the end of the day the job was done.
The next morning, as most of the jobs in the farm were done, the farmer asked the manager to divide a bag of potatoes in two boxes: one box with small potatoes and one box with big potatoes. At the end of the day the farmer saw that the manager was sitting in front of the potatoes bag, but the two boxes were empty. The farmer asked the manager: "How is that you did such difficult jobs during the first days, and now you cannot do this simple job?"
The manager answered: "Listen, all my life I am cutting heads and dealing with shit, but now you ask me to make decisions!"