Vishu

Travel to Kerala to experience the exciting and colourful Vishu festival. Festivals in Kerala are an integral part of the social and cultural structure of the state and festival time is the best time to travel to Kerala. Kerala travel during the festival of Vishu will add a lot of colour to your holidays.

One of the most popular festivals of Kerala is Vishu. Vishu falls on the first of Medam (March-April), which is the Malayalam New Year's Day. Since it is considered propitious to view good things on this day for year round good fortune, Vishu morning is an important time. The heart of this festival of Kerala is the preparation of the kani (the lucky sight or gift).

The custom of preparing the kani has been followed for generations. The women take a large dish made of bell-metal (uruli), arrange in it a grantha (palm-leaf manuscript), a gold ornament, a new cloth, some flowers from the Konna Tree (Cassia fistula), some coins in a silver cup, a split coconut, a cucumber, some mangoes and a jack-fruit. On either side of the dish are placed two burning lamps with a chair facing it. Family members are taken blindfolded and then their blindfolds are removed and they view the Vishu Kani. As in other festivals of India, a great feast at home is the high point of celebrating Vishu in Kerala.