Vishu

What it is

Vishu is the traditional new year of the Malayalis, the Malayalam-speaking community whose home is Kerala, along with Mahe in India. It is a Hindu festival and a family one: households gather rather than meet in large crowds. The day marks the start of the solar year, when the sun moves into Aries. It comes on the day Medam opens in the solar reckoning kept in Malabar, which lands on 14 or 15 April in the Gregorian calendar. The Kollam era calendar, drawn up at Kollam in 825 CE, puts the new year months later, on 1 Chingham, in mid August.

Name and origins

The word Vishu comes from the Sanskrit Visuvam, which means equal, and it once pointed to the spring equinox. Because the equinoxes shift slowly over time, that equinox now arrives about 24 days ahead of Vishu, on 21 March, or Meenam 7 in the Malayalam months. Two stories are told about the day. One holds that Krishna killed the demon Narakasura on it. The other says it marks the sun taking up its climb again in the east, which Ravana had halted. Both are told as beliefs rather than recorded history.

The first sighting

On the night before Vishu, families lay out a tray of auspicious things, the Vishukkani. Kani means that which is seen first, and the whole custom rests on the idea that the year goes better when the first thing the eye falls on is good. Typically the tray holds rice, coconut, cucumber, fruits, betel leaves, arecanut, gold or silver, a mirror, a lamp, and the golden blossom of the konna tree, which flowers at this season. Many place an image of Krishna or Vishnu among them. Elders light the lamp, then wake the young ones, who come to look with eyes still closed.

Food and gifts

A feast called Sadhya belongs to the day, as it does to Kerala's other festivals. Dishes made for Vishu include kanji, a rice and coconut milk preparation; katta, made from rice of the new harvest and served with jaggery; and thoran, a side dish. Two others are veppampoorasam, a bitter dish of neem, and mampazhappulissery, a soup of mango. Together they carry sweet, salt, sour, bitter and astringent tastes, a reminder that the coming year will hold pleasant and hard experiences alike. Elders also give money to children and to those in their care, and households give to charity. New clothes are bought for the occasion.

Around the world

Several other new years fall on or close to the same date. Vaisakhi, kept by Hindus and Sikhs in northern and central India, marks the solar new year, and so do Puthandu in Tamil country and Bihu in Assam. Songkran in Southeast Asia arrives on the Vishu date as well, and the konna blossom carries the same meaning in Laos. Sri Lanka's Sinhalese New Year shares the first sighting, the flowers, the food and the firecrackers. Bishu is kept on Baisakh 1 in Nepal's far west. Many Buddhist communities in Myanmar and Cambodia also begin their year on or near 14 April. Not every Hindu new year falls now: in and near Gujarat it comes with Diwali, and elsewhere with Ugadi and Gudi Padwa, some weeks sooner.

How Vishu is kept

Vishu is kept at home. The day before, the household arranges the kani on a tray and sets out new clothes. Before dawn on Vishu, an elder lights the lamp and rouses the others, who come to the tray as their first sight of the year. Then follows the giving of kaineettam, money from elders to children and dependants, and gifts to charity. A feast is eaten, and children set off firecrackers, which have also been burst at homes in the days before. In parts of rural Kerala, elders of the local clans gather on the night of Vishu for koorayidal, opening a season of vela and kummaatti.

When and where

Vishu is kept once a year, on the opening day of Medam in the solar year followed in Malabar. That falls on 14 April in most years and on 15 April in others, so the date is fixed by the sun's entry into Aries rather than by the moon. The day itself runs from before first light, around four in the morning, until its end.

Vishu belongs to the Malayalis, and is strongest in Kerala and in Mahe, part of India. It is a household festival rather than a temple or street one, so it is kept wherever Malayali families live, in towns and villages across the region. Related new years on the same date are kept in Nepal, Sri Lanka and parts of Southeast Asia.

What Vishu means

Those who keep Vishu treat the first moments of the year as a kind of setting of the tone. What the eyes rest on first is thought to shape what follows, so the tray is built from things that suggest plenty: grain, fruit, gold, light and blossom. The mirror has its own meaning, showing the person looking as part of the abundance in front of them. The mixed tastes of the feast carry a second idea, that a year holds sweet and bitter alike and that no experience lasts forever.

Days Vishu is marked

Vishu dates: 2027, 2028

Questions people ask about Vishu

See also

NowruzThe Iranian new year at the March equinox, kept with fire, greenery and picnicsIndian national calendarIndia's official civil solar calendar, designed to bring unity to timekeepingLosarThe Tibetan Buddhist New Year festival of renewal, offerings, and family feastsUgadiA South Indian New Year feast celebrating life with sweet, sour, and bitter tastes

Good reading and sources

• BBC - ReligionsBBC, Article
• Vishu 2025: Know the date, significance, celebrations, and more about Malayalam New YearThe Indian Express, Article
• BBC - ReligionsBBC, Article
• Vishu 2025: Know the date, significance, celebrations, and more about Malayalam New YearThe Indian Express, Article

• Vishu on WikipediaEncyclopedia
• More photos on Wikimedia CommonsPhotos and video
• Wikidata recordOpen data

It may contain mistakes. Traditions differ from one family, village and community to the next, and the people who keep them know them best. If something is wrong, tell us. Last refreshed 2026-10-05.