History & traditions
Why Vishu and Puthandu are celebrated — New Year in Kerala and Tamil Nadu
Two New Years, a day apart
Vishu is the Malayali New Year, and Puthandu is the Tamil New Year. They fall next to each other in mid-April, when the sun enters the zodiac sign of Mesha (Aries) in the solar calendar used across much of South India. Puthandu usually falls on 14 April, and Vishu Kani the next morning, though the exact civil date can shift by a day according to the almanac.
The same stretch of mid-April is also New Year for several other communities — including Bohag Bihu in Assam and Pohela Boishakh in Bengal — so it is one of the busiest weeks for travel towards the south and the east. In Kerala, Vishu is a quieter, household dawn, not a street festival.
The first sight of the year
The heart of Vishu is the Vishu Kani: an arrangement that is traditionally the first thing a person should see on waking. The night before, an elder of the house lays out a bell-metal or brass uruli with raw rice, a yellow cucumber or other fruit, halved coconut, gold or coins, a small mirror, kanikonna — the golden shower blossoms that bloom at this season — a sacred book and a lit lamp. At dawn, family members are led to the kani with their eyes lowered, then look upon it and offer a prayer for a good year.
Children receive vishu kaineettam, a small gift of money, and later the family sits down to a sadya, a vegetarian feast served on banana leaves. The idea, as it is traditionally explained, is that a prosperous and auspicious first sight will set the tone for the months ahead.
Puthandu in Tamil homes
In Tamil Nadu the New Year is called Puthandu, the first day of the month of Chithirai. Homes are cleaned and decorated with mango leaves and kolam at the threshold. A tray is arranged with fruits, flowers, betel, coins and a mirror, and a special mango pachadi — mixing sweet, sour, bitter and spice — is made so that the year is tasted in all its flavours.
Many families visit a temple in the morning, exchange greetings of Puthandu Nalvazhthukkal, and share a festive meal. It is a day of beginnings rather than of a long public ritual, and it is celebrated as warmly in Chennai, Madurai, Coimbatore and Tiruchirappalli as it is in smaller towns and in Tamil homes elsewhere in India and abroad.
A practical note for travellers
The Vishu Kani is seen at first light, so if you are flying home to Kerala it is worth arriving the previous night. Flights into Kochi, Thiruvananthapuram, Kozhikode, Chennai and Madurai are in demand that week, especially on routes from the Gulf, Bengaluru, Mumbai and Delhi. In some years Thrissur Pooram falls just after Vishu; when it does, many people combine the two and stay on in central Kerala for a night or two. Book early, and keep a little slack in your journey for the busy airports of mid-April.