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Festivals
On one morning each year, families in Kerala make sure the very first thing their eyes fall on is arranged with total care, because the whole year is believed to follow from it.
Vishu marks the first day of the Malayalam month of Medam. It falls on the day the sun enters the sidereal sign of Aries. Its name comes from the Sanskrit word vishuvam, meaning "equal." Day and night sit close to balance around this point in the solar calendar. This makes Vishu, at its root, an astronomical new year, one measured by the sun's position rather than by a story of gods and demons.
Old records trace organised Vishu back to the reign of Sthanu Ravi, a Chera king who ruled in the ninth century CE. This was when the Kollam Varsham calendar came into use in Kerala. This gives Vishu a recorded civic history that stretches back over a thousand years, apart from any single myth.
The rest of this story, read aloud, and a new one every day.