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Pudhumanai Pugudhal (house warming)

கல்யாணத்தை பண்ணிப்பார், வீட்டை கட்டிப்பார் says an age old Tamil saying denoting the tedious nature of both as duties. The house warming ceremony denotes the culmination of building a house and entering into it for living.
In a typical Tamil house hold, buying or building a new house is a pride and a dream. Building a house involves lot of rituals. First comes the 'Adikal naattu', laying the foundation stone. On an auspicious day, Just before the sunrise Bhoomi Pooja is done and the first stones are layed by the family and the builders involved. All present are given Prasad or sweets from the Pooja. This marks the kick start of the house building project.
Once the building skeleton comes up with walls built and rooms differentiated there comes a time to fix the frame and threshold of the doors. This requires Vaasakaal Pooja to bring up the Vaasal. A team of married ladies in odd numbers form the main part of this ceremony. Navaratnas are buried below the Vaasal and each lady will pour milk on each end of the Vaasal. Turmeric and kumkum are applied to the left and right of the Vaasal and worshipped. Ladies finally are welcomed to cross the Vaasal by land lady. Following this the head mason performs Pooja and offers present to everyone in his team.
Once the building attains a stage were it is ready to be occupied, the house warming ceremony takes places. The night before the pudhumanai pughuvizha, the sola-kolai bommai which was tied outside the building will be removed and burnt to ward off the evil spirits. After this the house undergoes a wash and gets decked up for the ceremony.
The main entrance is decorated with plantain trees on both sides. The building lighted with serial bulbs and a welcome board adorns the centre. Each main door or Vaasal is garlanded. The invitation is to the cow and it's calf. They are welcomed with Arti and Go Pooja were they are given clothes and bananas to eat. Their komiyam cleanses the house. 
This is followed by the entry of the household's family. The lady takes the lamp while the rest follow with the picture of pillaiyaar and a plate containing rice, bran, jaggery, water, coins, dhal and salt. 
Once these are placed down for Pooja the priest starts with Homam.

 23 bricks and a sack of mud is used to create the Homa Kundan. Kolam is drawn on the bricks and mud is filled in the centre. A pillaiyaar is made out of turmeric to witness. A pair of Kuthuvilaku is lite to start the Homam. The head of family sits alone with his family opposite to the priests. Offerings are made to the lord Agni. At the end of Homam the family are honoured by the in laws with new clothes and seer varisai. A small burning stick from the Homam is taken out to the kitchen to boil milk. The milk is allowed to over flow and the remaining in the pot is sweetened with sugar and distributed to all present there.
Guest arrive, wish the family and present their gifts.  The family serves meal to the guests. After the guests leave the family is left to their new house. They to stay in the new that night. In case of pending work to be completed, they might leave the next day and come back to live after work is complete and the house is ready to be occupied.
We just wanted to record this happy ceremony here after having witnessed one recently, for the benefit of a wider audience.

 Happy house warming 🏠

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Location: Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India

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