Church of Immaculate Conception Johor Baru parishioners taking part in the Ponggal Festival celebration.
THE Church of Immaculate Conception in Johor Baru has kept the Ponggal tradition alive with a grand celebration involving some 400 parishioners.
A member of the church’s Ponggal celebration organising committee, Adrian Loganathan @ Nathan, said apart from the Tamil mass, several other fun activities were held during the event.
“We decided to organise the Ponggal harvest festival in February and this is the first time we are celebrating it in a grand scale.
“In previous years, the church marked the occasion by just boiling milk in a pot at the church’s compound followed by mass.
“However, this year, we decided to do more. We held several activities, including a pot decoration competition for children and a garland-making competition,” added Adrian.
Ponggal this year was celebrated from Jan 14 to 17, which is from the last day of the Tamil month of Margazhi to the third day of the Thai month. It is a form of thanksgiving for an abundant harvest.
Adrian said the highlight of the church’s Ponggal celebration this year was the cooking of sweetened rice in a pot by the church’s 10 Tamil-speaking Basic Ecclesial Community (BEC).
“The BEC are prayer groups of specific residential areas. Each BEC takes charge of one pot until it boils.
“After the church service, we were treated to a banana leaf rice feast,” he said, adding that parishioners were delighted with the celebration.
He added that the church encourage the celebration of cultural events and had also been marking other festivals such as Chap Goh Mei and Gawai Festival.
“We have people of various races attending mass that is conducted in several languages, including English, Tamil and Mandarin.
“As such, we welcome diverse celebrations which also allow churchgoers to know more about each other,” added Adrian.
