Vishu is the traditional Malayalam festival celebrated on the first day of the Malayalam month of Medam and so is also known as the Malayalam New Year. It is celebrated by all Malayalees irrespective of the religion and sect, but is generally a Hindu festival. As the day generally falls on 14th of April, it coincides with celebration of many other states who also celebrate the day as their new year, but with different names like Puthendu in Tamil Nadu, Vishua Sankranti in Orissa, Bihu in Assam and so on.The word Vishu in Sanskrit means “EQUAL”. On this day day and night is supposed to be equal in Kerala. The Sun crosses the equator during this time of the year and so special prayers are held to make the next year a prosperous one.Vishu is the symbol of hope, prosperity and luck. It is considered as an auspicious day and is celebrated through colorful rituals and customs. It is a festival of joy and merriment. Few traditions associated with Viishu are Vishukkani, Vishupulari, Vishukaineetam and many more.
How is it Celebrated?
Vishu is celebrated as a festival of light. The houses are decorated with lights and is celebrated with much of the vigor and fanfare. People follow the rituals with all dedication. The various rituals are:
Viishukkani:The most important ritual is Vishukkani. They start the day by seeing a few items which are arranged by the lady of the house in a circular metal vessel called Urli. Several auspicious things like grains, fruits, vegetables, lamp, flowers, gold, coconut, mirror, etc. are arranged in the Urli. This setting of Vishukkani is a very important ritual and is done on the previous evening of Vishu. It is a custom to see the Viishukkani as the first thing on the very dawn of Viishu. This is considered to bring prosperity to the household. This custom is known as Kanikanal. This Viishukkani is then distributed among the poor.
Vishukkaineetam: The next custom is that of Viishukkaineetam where after taking bath everyone wears new clothes and visits the elders to collect Viishukkaineetam, the wealth mainly coins. It is distributed by the elder to the children, servants and tenants to wish everyone prosperity. For children it is fun to collect the Viishukkaineetam amount.Apart from these two main customs, fire crackers bursting, buying of new clothes, Viishu feast or Sadya are also integral part of the festival.
As Vishu follows the custom of giving gifts to near and dear ones, Malabar offers many options of gifting gold and diamond jewellery. To show your love you can avail the Malabar offers affordable jewellery of gold and diamond. Malabar presents exquisite jewellery to gift likeearrings and studs of diamond, gold chains, bracelets and many other options. Even special Vishu gold coins are launched for this auspicious occasion. Malabar has an exclusive collection of items for children like pendant, chains, bangles and rings which are designed especially for the kids and that too at an affordable rate. Picking up gift items from Malabar will ensure the purity of the product and also will match up the purpose of the festival: to bring prosperity for the future.