Vishu – A New Year #atozchallenge

 

 

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New year arriveth
Bringing much hope, dreams and joy
Let good times begin

Vishu – The New Year celebrated in Kerala usually on or around the second week of April (usually 14 April). Yeah they have their own calendar but I am not too good at those. Whats important is it was celebrated on 14 Apr this year !! 🙂

The day starts with a Vishukkani, a literal translation meaning “first thing you see after waking up” and this is usually the idol of Krishna elaborately arranged with a lot of other traditional items. Usually the lady of the house arranges the vishukanni the previous night, wakes up early in the morning, lights the lamp and then makes sure the others see this as the first thing when they open their eyes. This involves a lot of walking in the dark of course with your eyes closed or covered :). The Vishukkani usually consists of a ritual arrangement of auspicious articles like raw rice, fresh lemon, golden cucumber, betel leaves, arecanut, metal mirror, yellow flowers konna (Cassia Fistula), and a holy text and coins, in a bell metal vessel called uruli. A lighted bell metal lamp called nelavilakku is also placed alongside (taken from Wikipedia). Well we did with whatever we could arrange. Its also a day the foodies would die for with some traditional sadya (feast) with a unimaginable number of food items if one can find the right source and we did 🙂

Part of #atozchallenge with V. Also linked to Katherine’s Corner. Haiku composed with Syllable Counter. 

About The Author

Pravin Menon aka PhenoMenon is a corporate junkie by day and a food experiencer when he is not working (which he usually is most of the time). He is into adventure sports, food experimentations and when he is not carrying out explosions in the kitchen, he usually is eating (or drinking!) Contact him at pravs@phenomenalworld.in

20 thoughts on “Vishu – A New Year #atozchallenge

  1. >the foodies would die for!
    Aye aye! I wait for my Mallu friends to invite me, if they don’t I invite myself 😛

    All the arrangements and stuff are the reasons I love festivals . Love the crisp narration

  2. I used to see a pic of Jesus the day of Vishu as Vishukani… and rush to Dad for Vishu kaineettam. And Mom’s in a mood to cook, then we will be treated with the Sadya. I guess whatever the religion is, India is one place where we could celebrate everything in our own way without loosing much of it’s essence.

    And belated Vishu wishes to you. 🙂

    1. U might be confusing this with Pongal, celebrated in Tamil Nadu… There are no doll arrangements as such here. I am no “Madrasi” but a Malayalee 😀

  3. Wow! Three things. One, had no clue about this, so learnt something new. Two, how do the ladies manage with their eyes closed, totally intrigued. Three, 14th April is a fab day, my daughter’s birthday! LOVED IT!

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