The Tamil month of Margazhi falls between December 15th and January 15th. It is a religious month for Tamilians. In my village two changes take place unique to this month.

In the morning women in the village sweep the street in front of their homes and sprinkle it with water. A few old timers mix cow dung in that water. This happens throughout the year.

In this month, they draw Kollams in front of their homes early in the morning before Sun rise. The Kollam is a design drawn with white and colored powder. This is drawn on the street in front of the main door of the house.

In old times Kollam used to be drawn with rice powder. This was meant as food for the ants, which would thus not come into the house in search of food. These days nobody does this, at least not in my village.

There is a Kollam in front of every house in the village. At 5.30 am a group of men and boys start from the Ganesha temple in the village. They walk through the entire village singing bhajans (devotional songs). They carry small musical instruments to help them.

The youngest is a boy only 8 years old. The eldest is a 60 plus man. As they pass through the village, they stop for a while at every kollam. In some houses they are welcomed with tea or coffee. Some villagers give them snacks.

Village elder T.Murugiah Nadar says that these bhajans were started more than 50 years back by his late elder brother Velusamy.

They come back to the temple at around 7 a.m. The trip takes about an hour and a half.
There is a special early morning pooja or prayer after they come back to the Ganesha temple. The daily morning pooja is sponsored by one of the villagers.

Devotees are served with ‘Payasam’ which is a rice based sweet and also Channa. Sometimes white Channa and sometimes black. Young boys who take part in these bhajans run home as they have to go to school. The half-yearly exams are on.

The other village folk who attend this morning pooja then go to the Kamakshi Amman temple where another pooja takes place. The third pooja takes place at another Amman temple. By the time all these poojas take place it is 9 am in the morning.

If you eat the ‘Prasadam’ at all the three temples, it is enough for breakfast.

The bhajans will go on throughout this month till the night before Pongal. This is the harvest festival in Tamil Nadu. On the night before Pongal at midnight, the Lord ‘Ganesha’ is decked up in all his finery.

He comes into the village on his special chariot and visits every home. An Elephant leads this procession. Then come the men and boys who sing the Bhajans. The lit up chariot of Lord Ganesha again stops at every kollam.

Kollams on that day are colourful and more exotic than those drawn throughout the month. Villagers receive the Lord with special prayers in front of their homes. The Chariot goes back to the temple after 4 am in the morning. At Sunrise ‘Pongal’ starts.