9:45 yes it's ash. Probably not the ash you are thinking of. It is ash burnt from wood, old cotton clothes, some natural scent from flowers. It is offered in all temples by the priest who says prayers & gives it to the ones who come to the temple and is 90% in everyone's home here. 10:50 When you see or hear flower decorations on statues, fire being touched & worshipped, idol worship, animal worship it is 99% Hindu religion! It is filled with thousands of Gods with the 3 main primary gods and thousands of variations of rituals based on the region! 12:45 This is bullfighting without hurting or killing the bull...not like the one they do in Italy. They try to grab onto the hump for a few seconds so they can win a small prize or the bull owner gets a small prize. These bulls will be used for farming after the festival & they are worshipped. Some breeds are special to this sport & they are massive & more aggressive. This very old ancient sport is held to show that they have very strong & capable cattle and this raises the value of the bull. And of course to show "Yeah..me strong men. Me tame bull" also! To know some overview of this region you can react to "cogito- who are the Tamil people". He explains its history in a fun way.
Pongal is a secular harvest festival that is celebrated by people from all religions. This video purportedly shows some Hindu gods to make it look like a Hindu festival. My friends both Christians and Muslims celebrate the festival. But again have to say Hinduism cannot be defined easily. The region I come from worships Gods different from people from Northern India.
Madam Do not forget the ancient language which is the forerunner of all the languages in the Tamil world .. If you do not know then explore .. Please do not precede Hindi ..🙏
