15 Apr 2010

HAPPY VISHU.

One of the nicest things about doing this blog and, in particular, posting about these religious festivals is all the (albeit virtual) celebrations I get to go to.

No different is the celebration of VISHU, which takes place today, and is of great significance for HINDUS as it marks the Astronomical New Year Day.


Full of colourful rituals and customs, most of which are based on the belief that Vishu must be celebrated well as the good things of the first day New Year will continue for the rest of the year too.
Celebrations including a grand saya (feast) are prepared by the women of the household. Sitting down to a meal of jackfruits, mangoes, pumpkins and other such delicacies, new clothes are worn and fire crackers are burst in the midst of dancing to mark the day.
Whilst a group of young men and women dress up, wearing skirts of dried banana leaves and masks, they go from house to house, dancing and collecting small amounts of money which is spent at the Vishuwela (New Year Fair).

14 comments:

serendipity_viv said...

I like the sound of going round houses and collecting money!

Kissed by an Angel said...

I like the sound of the feast!!!!
xxxx

chitra said...

Vishu is celebrated in Kerala like Baisakhi is for Punjabis Bihu for Assamese, Just Tamil New year for Tamilians .

As I was born in Kerala this is a special day for all the people and eldest member of the family blesses the young and hands over a coin called as Vishu kai neetam. This is in belief that the New year and the rest of the year would be prosperous for them.Children touch the legs and seek blessings of elders ,a tradition which is followed for centuries. The money is collected only in villages . That is again vishu kaineetam. This money spent on Vishu Mela ( fair). I appreciate you for giving a nice description. This is the day new seeds would be sown so that it would be ready fo the harvest festival Onam.
Just giving you little more info. I just got carried away when I saw the topic.

Felicity Grace Terry said...

Glad you did Chitra, it's always good to learn these things first hand.

Tracie said...

That sounds like fun!

Nina said...

Great to learn more about this celebration! I like the name of Vishu.

Martha@A Sense of Humor is Essential said...

I love any festival I can dress up for!! Sounds like a whole lotta fun.

Oddyoddyo13 said...

That sounds so amazing. Thanks for giving us a glimpse of all these wonderful cultures and religions-and Happy Vishu!

Traci said...

Thank you for sharing this. I am woefully undereducated on this subject. I had no idea of this cool idea. I just got a little smarter, thanks to you.
:-)
Traci

Melissa (My World...in words and pages) said...

Very interesting. I love learning something new. I didn't know about this holiday. WOW! Thank you!

Betty Manousos said...

Thanks ,Petty for sharing that!
I love learning new things.
That sounds like great fun!
Betty xx

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