In Sanskrit language ‘Vishu’ means ‘equal’ and it is not only a festival of Malayalees. The festival is celebrated all across India with different names. In Assam Vishu festival is celebrated as Bihu where as in Punjab the festival is recalled as Baisakhi.
What is The Significance of Vishu Festival?
Vishukkani:
On the dawn of the auspicious day of Vishu, one should see the Vishukkani as the first sight of the New Year, to have a peaceful and prosperous year ahead. Vishukkani is also pronounced as VishuKani, and is a collection of various auspicious things like fruits, grain, vegetables, lamps, flowers, coconut, gold, mirror, Hindu holy books: Ramayanam or Bhagavatgita, etc. set in a large circular vessel which is made of five metals, with an image of Lord Krishna. This is kept in the puja room.
The golden coloured Casia Fistula, also known as Konnappo, usually blooms during the time of Vishu only and this special flower is used in the process of VishuKani. Golden coloured cucumber, tender mangoes, jackfruit, etc are the main vegetables use in the process. The people who have the special mirror, Valkkannadi, use it and others who don’t have it, uses an ordinary mirror to see it.
The VishuKani is set with very carefully on the evening before the Vishu day. It is all done by the lady of the house. Seeing it the first thing on waking up on the Vishupulari day is considered as the glorious darshan of God with Vishukkani. This ritual is called Kanikanal.Importance of Vishu Festival
The Vishu festival is a very important part of all the Malayalee people and the significance of Vishu festival can be easily seen from their preparation and celebrations.
People exchange greetings on Vishu day, and children enjoy bursting crackers and lightning candles to celebrate this auspicious occasion. People go to temples for worship with traditional chandanam or sandal paste applied on their forehead.
On this day, many famous temples like Sabarimala, Guruvayur, Sri Padmanabha temple etc. are packed with devotees, and here special pujas are held by many devotees of Lord Krishna.
The elders give money to the youngsters, which is a tradition known as VishuKaineetam. And different types of dishes are prepared in every home, called Sadhya. These preparations consist of same proportions of sweet, sour, salty and bitter items, like mampazhapachadi, jackfruit erissery, Vishupuzukku etc.
One more significant aspect on this auspicious Vishu day is that the day and the night are equal inKerala. This explains ‘Vishuvam’ in Sanskrit meaning Equal Night and day.
വിഷുക്കണിക്കു ഒരുക്കേണ്ടത്:
ഒരുക്കേണ്ട ദ്രവ്യങ്ങൾ.
1.നിലവിളക്ക്
- ഓട്ടുരുളി
- ഉണക്കലരി
- നെല്ല്നാളികേരം
- സ്വർണ്ണ നിറമുള്ള കണിവെള്ളരി
- ചക്ക
- മാങ്ങ, മാമ്പഴം
- കദളിപ്പഴം
- വാൽക്കണ്ണാടി
- കൃഷ്ണവിഗ്രഹം
- കണിക്കൊന്ന പൂവ്
- എള്ളെണ്ണ (വിളക്കെണ്ണ പാടില്ല )
- തിരി
- കോടിമുണ്ട്
- ഗ്രന്ഥം
- നാണയങ്ങൾ
- സ്വർണ്ണം
- കുങ്കുമം
- കണ്മഷി
- വെറ്റില
- അടക്ക
- ഓട്ടുകിണ്ടി
- വെള്ളം
- പച്ചക്കറി വിത്തുകൾ
- നട്ടു വളർത്താൻ തുളസി തയ്യോ ചെത്തി തയ്യോ കൂടി വക്കാൻ പറ്റിയാൽ കൂടുതൽ നല്ലത്
