flowers on the head and is known as 'Aatta Karagam' and symbolises joy and merriment. In earlier times, the clay pot, or Karagam, was considered the residence of the local deity during the festival , which played a crucial role in community bonding. It is not clear whether the pot ever contained fire, or was so named because it was carried over fire by fire walkers. Descendants of the Fire Pot Although the fire pot and its ancestor the fire pit are still in use in their original forms, successive technical refinements have led to many modern descendants whose origin in the simple clay container might be hard to guess. Some have been driven by the need to adapt to new fuels, such as charcoal, oil, coal, coke, kerosene, propane, electricity and microwaves. Others have been made possible through discovery of new materials such as iron, bronze, ceramics and asbestos. Always the motive would have been to improve the design, to make a device for managing fire that was cheaper, more robust, more convenient, more capable of meeting new demands. Often improvements made for industrial purposes found their way into improved cooking devices, and vice versa. An incomplete list of fire pot descendants includes: Brazier: A standing or hanging metal bowl or box containing the fire, with perforations for ventilation. A Hibachi is a type of brazier. Stove: An enclosed space containing the fire, with dampers and regulators to adjust the draft and thus control the heat. A stove allows for cleaner, hotter and more efficient use of fuel than a fire pot or brazier. Oven: An enclosed compartment of a stove, separate from the fire, used for heating, baking or drying. Ovens may have their origin in the practice of enclosing food in clay or leaves before placing it in the fire, still used in Kalua, the traditional cuisine of Hawaii. Ovens make it practical to cook slowly, heating the food throughout, and are the basis of many types of cuisine. Ovens enable pottery and today are used in many industrial processes. Boiler: A closed vessel in which water is heated. The discovery that boilers could build up explosive pressure if too well sealed led to the invention of the steam engine, a pivotal technology in the Industrial Revolution. Barbecue: A device for cooking on a grill over a box containing burning wood, charcoal or, more recently, propane or