Tamil New Year 2021: Date, significance, rituals related to the occasion

Tamilians across the world celebrate their new year on the first day of the Chithirai month, which in 2021 falls tomorrow (14 April). On this day, people greet each other saying “ Puthuandu vazthukal,” which means Happy New Year in Tamil. This special day is also referred to as Puthandu or Varsha Pirappu. The most interesting part about this day is, the Tamil New Year falls almost on the same day every year in the Gregorian calendar. Significance of Puthandu or Tamil New Year: Tamilians across the world look forward to new year’s day with hope and anticipation. It is a day where families come to celebrate, feast and have a great get-together. How is the day celebrated? On this day, people prepare a tray with: - Fresh fruits and vegetables - Neem flowers and leaves - New clothes - Gold or silver jewellery and currency notes or coins This tray is placed in the house’s temple room which will be kept in front of a mirror. The next day, people will see the reflection of the tray in the mirror as soon as they wake up. This gesture symbolises abundance in wealth and health. The family then gears up for prayers after a bath, which is followed by a feast made of grated raw mango, jaggery, salt, red chillies, neem leaves, a pinch of turmeric and oil. This preparation is marked as one of the most important parts of the day as it reflects multiple emotions that people face every day. To be more precise, the raw mango symbolises sourness, while the neem represents bitterness, jaggery signifies sweetness and chillies adds pungency. In the latter part of the day, the feast also includes recipes such as vadai, sambhar, sadam (rice), payasam, appalam (papad), vegetable curry, fresh mango pickle, curd and such items.