🙏 Surya Dev

Thai Pongal

🗓️ Sun enters Makara Rashi — first day of Thai (mid-January)

The story behind Thai Pongal

Thai Pongal is Tamil Nadu's harvest festival, kept on the first day of the Tamil month Thai when the Sun enters Makara. It is a thanksgiving to Surya, to the rain and to the cattle that worked the fields. Its name is the verb: pongal means to boil over, and the rice and jaggery are watched until the pot spills, which the household greets with the cry Pongalo Pongal. The four days run as Bhogi, Thai Pongal, Mattu Pongal for the cattle, and Kaanum Pongal for visiting kin.

Thai Pongal Puja Vidhi

  1. 1

    Bhogi & Kolam

    On the eve, discard what is worn out and clean the house; at dawn draw a kolam at the threshold and mark the cooking place.

  2. 2

    Surya Puja & Pongal Vaikkal

    Facing east at sunrise, cook the new rice with milk and jaggery in a decorated clay pot in the open, and let it boil over as the offering to Surya.

  3. 3

    Naivedya

    Offer the pongal with sugarcane, turmeric with its leaves, banana and coconut on a plantain leaf before anyone eats.

  4. 4

    Mattu Pongal

    On the following day bathe the cattle, paint and garland their horns, and feed them the first share of the pongal.

Thai Pongal Mantra

ॐ सूर्याय नमः॥

Meaning

Salutations to Surya, whose returning northward course the month of Thai begins.

How to chant

Chant while offering the pongal to the rising sun, facing east.

When is Thai Pongal?

YearDate
2025Tuesday, 14 January 2025
2026Wednesday, 14 January 2026
2027Thursday, 14 January 2027
2028Friday, 14 January 2028
2029Sunday, 14 January 2029

Dates are computed with the Drik (observational) method from real solar and lunar positions, using sunrise-to-sunrise Tithi assignment for New Delhi.

Does Thai Pongal fall on the same date everywhere?

Thai Pongal begins at the exact moment the Sun crosses into a new zodiac sign — the same instant everywhere on Earth. Which calendar day it's observed on in a given city depends on local convention relative to that instant (in most places, whether it falls before or after that city's own sunrise), so Thai Pongal can land on different dates in different countries even though the underlying moment is the same for everyone.

CityDate
New DelhiWed, 14 January
New YorkTue, January 13
LondonWed 14 January
TorontoTue, January 13
SydneyWed 14 January
DubaiWed, 14 January
SingaporeWed, 14 January

These dates follow the panchang convention computed for each city's own coordinates — they are not a universal verdict. Some temples and communities shift observance to a weekend regardless of the computed date, and published panchang authorities recommend using your own city's panchang rather than a single worldwide date. Confirm with your local temple or community before treating a date as final.

Festivals around Thai Pongal

All Hindu festivals →See the full Vedic calendar →Today's Panchang & muhurtas →

Thai Pongal FAQs

Thai Pongal falls on 14 January 2026, based on Kaala's Drik Panchang calculation for the corresponding Tithi.

Thai Pongal is dated according to the lunar Tithi, not the fixed Gregorian calendar, so its Gregorian date shifts from year to year while its position in the lunar calendar stays consistent.

The astronomical event Thai Pongal marks happens at the same instant everywhere in the world, but which calendar day that instant falls on locally depends on each city's own timing — so cities in different countries can observe Thai Pongal a day apart.