Kanu Mattu Pongal Festival and Famous Alanganallur Jallikattu

The third day of the Pongal Festival is the Mattu Pongal Festival mainly dedicated to the worship of cattles like Cows, Bulls and other farm animals. People pay thanksgiving and worshipped the cattles on this festival, since they help for the cultivation. Indian people believed that the Cow as the manifestation of Goddess Lakshmi and Bull as Nandi, who is the gate keeper of Lord Shiva. So, People offer prayers and Pongal to the Cow, Bull and other farm animals. At the early morning, the cattles are bathed, decorated and the horns are sharpened and painted with various colors. Also the cattles are fully adorned with garlands and tinkling bells. Special prayers offered to Lord Ganesh and Goddess Parvathi on this occasion. At Madurai Meenakshi Amman Temple, special prayers, pujas and deeparadhanas would be performed to Nandi during the Mattu Pongal Festival. Another notable feature of the Mattu Pongal Festival is the Jallikattu popularly known as Manju virattu.

Significance of Alanganallur Jallikattu

Jallikattu is a kind of sport played by the Tamilnadu People as a part of a Pongal celebration. This heroic sport is held at Alanganallur, near Madurai which is called as the world's famous bull fight. Bundles of money are tied to the horns of bulls which the villagers try to retrieve. Only men take part in this game and those who control the horns of the bull will get a money bundle which is tied to the horns of it. During this valiant game, many people might get injured and even death also occur.