Margazhi Kolam

This is the Tamil month of Margazhi (Dec 15 - Jan 15). This month is considered inauspicious by Tamils. Tamils don't get married, don't start new ventures in this month. This is also the coldest month of the year in Tamil Nadu when the temperature falls to almost 20C and the place becomes really cold (almost like Yakutsk,
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/rest-of-world/Oimyakon-in-Russia-records-minus-612-degrees-Celsius/articleshow/7241535.cms).

This is also the month when people are encouraged to wake up earlier in the morning (before 6AM). I guess there is a scientific reason behind this as well. Possibly the retention of what we study is better, possibly the air is purer. I do not know what it is.

But there is one thing really nice about this month. The Kolams (loosely called Rangoli) that women draw outside their houses is bigger and more colorful in this month. It's amazing. Here is an article on the Margazhi Kolam from today's newspaper. http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Default/Scripting/ArticleWin.asp?From=Archive&Source=Page&Skin=TOINEW&BaseHref=TOICH/2011/01/09&PageLabel=2&EntityId=Ar00203&ViewMode=HTML&GZ=T. (The word Mami in Tamil means Aunty, the article is about a French lady who has lived in South India for 25 years and about her interest in Kolam.)

A friend of mine once showed me a big Kolam that she had made in her house. It was lovely. It's rather unfortunate that this (Kolam) is also going out of fashion in South India, what with people being preoccupied with other things. 

This is a photo of a Kolam from my album taken a few years ago
https://plus.google.com/u/0/photos/search/kolam?mode=my&pid=5433921082348234802&oid=114451897239202019349.

Additional Kolam from 2015: