Culture
Kolam and Margazhi
A kolam in the courtyard at dawn, and the music of the month of Margazhi.
When
Most dawns. The Tamil month of Margazhi falls around December and January.
Region
Tamil Nadu
A kolam is drawn in rice flour before the door. The day wears it away. The next dawn it is drawn again. It is both ornament and duty. Dots and lines are learned like a mathematics. Women teach it as a knowledge of the house.
In Margazhi the temples and the music halls wake. Andal's Thiruppavai belongs to this season. Bharatanatyam asks a study of its own. For this page, the dawn of the house and the festival of the month are enough.
This is a general introduction. Sequence, materials, and timing change with family, region, and shakha. Your priest and your own custom have the last word.