Copper tumblers: care, use and a few myths
Why copper darkens, how to clean it, how long to keep water in it, and what copper can and cannot do.
Handmade things for a Pongal home
New clay pots, brass lamps and palm baskets: how families in Coimbatore prepare the house for Pongal, and where we help.
Pongal, in mid-January, is the festival when Tamil homes clean out the old and bring in the new. On Bhogi, the first day, old things are cleared; on Thai Pongal, rice and milk are boiled in a new pot until they spill over, and the house is decorated with kolam, sugarcane and fresh turmeric. Many of the things used are still handmade.
The Pongal pot is the centre of it. Many families now use a brass pot, kept and polished every year, but a new clay pot from Manamadurai is still the traditional choice. Our potters make pots in three sizes from late December; a 2 litre pot, enough for a family of four, is ₹380. Wash it with plain water and soak it for an hour before use, so it does not crack on the flame.
Brass lamps come out for cleaning on Bhogi, and many families light a kuthuvilakku beside the kolam on Pongal morning. If yours needs polishing, our tamarind method works well, and we polish old lamps at the shop from ₹150 if you bring them before 10 January.
For Mattu Pongal, the third day, when cattle are honoured, some families in the villages around Coimbatore buy new brass bells for their cows. And palm leaf baskets are a practical gift for the season, for carrying sugarcane, turmeric and vegetables. Order online by 5 January for delivery before Bhogi.
