Unlike India where Pongal is a harvest festival, Singapore celebrates it as a "thanks giving" occasion to promote a wide range of cultural activities, Chairman of the Little India Shopkeepers and Heritage Association (LISHA) Rajakumar Chandra said, who is also the main organiser of the celebrations.
Pupils and students from schools across the island will learn about Indian cultures from various sessions planned during the week-long celebrations being held in the Little India precinct.
"If you don't bring them in, the (Indian) tradition may fade away," he said.
Rajakumar leads over 700 businesses, restaurants and hotel operators in the precinct in celebrating all Indian cultural and traditional festivals as part of community services.
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The celebration is also to share the Indian community's prosperity with non-Indian fellow Singaporeans as well as less-fortunate and community elders. More than 200,000 visitors are expected to attend the events.
Singapore's 500,000 Indian community has been celebrating colourful Lohri and Makar Sankranti at various venues across the city-state this week. Pongal is the bigger scale event at Little India which has been decorated with colourful street lightings and buntings this week. These Indian festival celebrations and events go back to the 1950s-60s.