How Mattu Pongal Festival Used To Pamper And Torture Bulls?

• Mattu or Mathu means cattle or bull and Mattu Pongal is the 3rd day of Pongal festival of the cattle.
• Mattu Pongal is celebrated on 15th January 2014 and it is famous for the bull fight known Jallikettu or Manji Virattu.
• It’s a sort of thanksgiving to cow which provides milk and organic manure or fertilizer and bull which draws the plough.
• Cows and bulls are vital to the development of rural economy of India.
• In the morning, when the cattle are bathed, they are decorated. Horns are painted and crapped with special metal caps.
• The bulls are adorned with garlands, trinkets and tinkling bells.
• They are offered pongal and goodies to eat.
• In the second half of the day, the bulls are tortured in the name of Jallikettu and Manji Virattu – a sort of bull fighting.
• This sport was very popular in rural Tamil Nadu and the tradition seems to be dying these days due to protests from animal activists.
• Ferocious bulls are handpicked and coin bags are tied to their horns. Then they are let loose in an open ground.
• Young men try to control the bull barehanded and in the process hurt themselves and the bulls.
• In Andhra Pradesh, Mattu Pongal is similar to Kanuma Festival.