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VishuVishu (വിഷൂ) is a festival held in the state of Kerala in India. It has no religious significance but originated perhaps from the harvest that was taken about the first day in the Malayalam month of Medam (March – April) and though this is not the New Year's Day in the Malayalam Calendar, people of Kerala consider Vishu as the beginning of a new year. The festival is marked with offerings to the divine called Vishukkani. Over the years the offerings have become a ritual arrangement of auspicious articles like raw rice, fresh linen, golden cucumber, betel leaves, arecanut, metal mirror, the yellow flowers konna (Cassia fistula), and a holy text and coins, in a bell metal vessel called uruli. A lighted bell metal lamp called nilavilakku is also placed alongside. This arrangement is completed by women overnight, and the first sight the entire family sees on awakening the next morning is a lighted lamp surrounded by the above mentioned articles arranged around it. According to local belief, the first thing people see on the Vishu day, the Vishukkani, is decisive to the year's prosperity.
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