Pasadena Hindu Temple Hosts Ancient Harvest Festival Celebration on Saturday

The Pasadena Hindu Temple invites the public to join in and experience one of Hinduism’s most celebrated times of the year — Thai Pongal — to ring in a new year of prosperity and get a taste of the ancient traditions of the world’s oldest religion that are practiced to this day, here in Pasadena.

The celebration will take place on Saturday at the Temple’s location on Rosemead Blvd. and will give attendees an inside look into Indian culture, entertainment and food.

“The fourteenth (of January) is a very special day. It symbolizes people starting good days and experiencing good times,” said Pasadena Hindu Temple Head Priest Jagdish Rajgor.

Established in 2002 by 10 devotees living in Southern California, the Pasadena temple has become a hub for Indian Heritage and place for Hindu worship.

The Temple organizes weekly classes for preserving and promoting Indian traditions and Hindu culture in children and celebrates regular events that align with the traditional Hindu calendar.

“There’s a lot of activities that go on here of all kinds for everyone to check out” said Rajgor. “Anybody can come and everybody is welcome.”

The Temple started with humble beginnings in the early 2000s, when faithful would meet regularly at Victory Park to give various instruction in Hindu activities, such as music and dance.

The Temple continues to offer a variety of classes for anyone interested with regular sessions that include fusion dance, Hindi language classes, North Indian Classical vocal lessons, bamboo flute, tabla and harmonium lessons and others.

“Every Sunday we have people drive from over forty miles to come here,” said Rajgor about the Temple’s popularity and significance to the Hindu community in the region.

This Saturday’s celebration marks an exciting time for Hindus in that four separate festivals, as they’re called, land around the same time in just a matter of days : Makar Sankranti, Pongal, Tamil New Year Puja, Lohri and Bhogi.

This four-part celebration brings families and friends together to essentially kick off the new year with high hopes, prosperous thoughts and happiness for all and is most closely associated with a harvest festival.

“This is the time of year that many people start new jobs, have baby showers, move into new houses, have housewarming parties and more,” explained Rajgor, about how this time of year reflects positivity and prosperity.

Mid-January is an important time in the Hindu calendar. The harvest festival, Pongal, falls typically on the 14th or the 15th of January and is the quintessential ‘Tamil Festival’. Pongal is a harvest festival, a traditional occasion for giving thanks to nature, for celebrating the life cycles that give us grain, according to the Pongal Festival website.

Many believe that family problems will be solved during this time, which is traditionally the month of weddings.

“Many people will donate items they don’t want so they can help those in need,” said Rajgor.

Saturday’s gathering, although only two hours long, will give attendees the opportunity to engage in traditional worship to Hindu gods in the forms of Ganesh, Ma Lakshmi and Vishnu Puja and people will be treated to a quick reading session of Hindu literature.

“We’ll read five small chapters and then give Mahaprasad,” said Rajgor about the traditional offering of food to a Hindu god at the end of the festivities.

The Pasadena Hindu Temple is open to everyone during hours of operation organizes a free health checkup once a year, regular free health seminars, Yoga, Mediation and other discourses by renowned visiting guests, according to the website.

“This temple may be, very soon, moving into an even bigger temple,” said Rajgor.

The Makar Sankranti, Pongal, Tamil New Year Puja, Lohri and Bhogi event will take place at the The Pasadena Hindu Temple located at 676 S. Rosemead Blvd. from 4:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m.

For more information about the event, visit http://www.thepasadenahindutemple.org/events.html

For regular updates and information about the Pasadena Hindu Temple see their Facebook page by clicking https://www.facebook.com/PasadenaHinduTemple.