Pongala

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Pongala is a Hindu religious festival. The name 'Pongala' means 'to boil over' and refers to the ritualistic offering of porridge made of rice, sweet brown molasses, coconut gratings, nuts and raisins. Generally women devotees participate in this ritual.

The most famous and important among Pongala festival happens at the Attukal Bhagavathy Temple at Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala where around 35 million people participate. The festival in Attukal is considered by the population of the city, across their religious beliefs, as the biggest festival in the city.

The annual Pongala festival of Attukal Bhagavathi temple has been entered in the Guinness Book of World Records as the largest congregation of women in the world. The festival draws over 2.5 million women on a single day in March to perform the Pongala ritual, and has been a center of attraction for devotees as well as tourists who visit Trivandrum during this season.

Rice, coconut and Jaggery are brought by women devotees along with round earthen pots for cooking. Women participating in the Pongala squat on roads, by lanes, footpaths and shop fronts in a radius of several kilometers around the temple to cook the mixture of rice, jaggery and coconut in earthen pots that is offered to the goddess seeking divine blessings The Chief Priest of the temple lights the main hearth from the divine fire inside the sanctum sanctum. This fire is exchanged from one oven to another.
Pongala festival is mainly celebrated at Attukal Temple, Puthiyakavu Bhagavathi Temple, Kovilvila Bhagavati Temple, Chakkulathukavu Temple, Karikkakom Temple, Kanjirottu Valiaveedu Temple, Panekavu Bhagavati Shastha Temple and Thazhoor Bhagavathy Kshetram in Kerala.