|
 The month Margazhi is a Tamil word adopted by Sanskrit, according to some Tamil scholars. Maar in Tamil means maarik kaalam, i.e., the mazhaik kaalam or the rainy season. Kazhi means that which is past. Together, it means “that month that is past the rainy season”. The rainy season for south India is in October November. And the month of December (Margazhi) starts right after that.
The rain tenders the mother earth and hence the earth is most desirable (ready - or pakkuvam) for (yielding) the crops (end result) that are to be traditionally harvested in the ‘thai’ month. This
 word margazhi also means the pakkuvam of the jivAtmA ie this is the month when the torrential rainy season (rain is compared to samsaaram in many cases) is already over, (ie prior to this state) and that this jivAtmA is ready or have the pakkuvam that this is the apt time to surrender to the Lord.
January is a month of promise, of hopes rekindled, with the feeling of joyful anticipation of good things to come. Mid-January is the Tamil month of Thai, the month auspicious for marriages. Margazhi, which precedes Thai, is considered inauspicious because it symbolizes the death of the sun as it journeys to the winter solstice. It is however, a month when daily prayers are done before dawn especially by young unmarried women to propitiate the Gods to ordain a suitable groom for the worshipper.
 Beautiful Kolams grace the front portion of houses and at its centre is a clump of dung which holds a five petalled pumpkin flower - a symbol of fertility and an offering of love to the presiding deity. The kolam is drawn with rice flour, the idea being that the insects will feed on it and bless the household. The kolam also bore sociological significance and is even today religiously performed as a threshold ceremony before dawn in traditional households.
Margazhi is also the month when Chennai, the capital of Tamil Nadu, reverberates with the sound of classical music and dance. It was in December 1927, that the Congress party met in Chennai (then known as Madras) and organised a series of music concerts by well-known performers as part of the meet. This marked the beginning of the season of music concerts in the month of Margazhi. That it is the one month when Chennai experiences good weather is another reason for holding cultural events during this period.
|
