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Festivals
Most sacred trees in the tradition trace back to grief, penance, or a curse survived. This one grew from something rarer: a god simply overcome with delight.
At the very dawn of creation, tradition holds, Vishnu looked upon the newly made universe. He felt something rare, even for a god. He felt joy so complete that a single tear fell from his eye. Where that tear touched the earth, the amla tree sprang up, the Indian gooseberry. It carries within it something of Vishnu's own presence, from that first moment of joy.
Because of this origin, the amla tree is not treated in the tradition as an ordinary plant among many others. It is understood as a living form of Vishnu himself. It is rooted in the ground, not seated in a temple, and reachable by anyone who can find one and stand beneath its branches.
The rest of this story, read aloud, and a new one every day.