About Puthandu
Puthandu is the Tamil new year, the first day of the month of Chithirai, also called Varusha Pirappu or Chithirai Vishu. In 2027 it falls on Wednesday, 14 April 2027. Families arrange a tray of fruit, gold and a mirror to be seen first thing in the morning, read the new almanac, and eat mango pachadi that is sweet, sour, bitter and hot at once.
Chithirai is the first month of the Tamil year, and its first day is Puthandu. The word means new year, plainly. Older Tamils are as likely to call it Varusha Pirappu, the birth of the year, and in the Kongu belt around Coimbatore and Erode you will hear Chithirai Vishu.
The Tamil calendar is solar. A month starts when the sun moves from one rasi to the next, and Chithirai begins with the sun's entry into Mesha. Tamil almanacs take sunset as the cut-off: if the sun crosses before sunset, that day is Chithirai 1. Because the crossing usually happens in the afternoon, Puthandu lands on 14 April in most years. Tamil years are not numbered but named, running through a cycle of sixty names; the current cycle began in 1987. The almanac tells you which name the coming year carries.
What goes on the Puthandu kanni?
Kanni means sight, and the custom is to arrange the first thing you will look at on the new year morning. A tray or a plate is set in the puja room the night before, and children are led to it with their eyes shut and told to open them there.
| On the tray | Why it is there |
|---|---|
| Three fruits: mango, jackfruit, banana | The fruits of Chithirai, all in season together. They stand for the year's produce |
| Betel leaves and areca nut | The standard Tamil sign of welcome, offered to any guest |
| Gold ornaments and coins | A wish for the household to be no poorer at the end of the year |
| A mirror | So that you see yourself inside the arrangement, not just the objects |
| Raw rice, coconut, a lit lamp | The kitchen staples and the flame that opens any Tamil ritual |
| The new panchangam | The almanac for the year that is starting, read later in the day |
After the kanni, people bathe, wear new clothes and touch the feet of their elders. Elders give cash, called kai vishesham, usually a small note to each child. A kolam is drawn at the door, often with a lamp in the middle of it.
The almanac reading is the other half of the morning. At temples and in many homes someone reads the panchanga padippu aloud: the name of the new year, the rains expected, the crops, and the general forecast for each birth star. People listen, argue with it, and get on with the day.
What is eaten on Puthandu?
The dish that defines the day is maanga pachadi, made from raw mango with jaggery, neem flower, chilli, salt and a little tamarind. It is deliberately sweet, sour, bitter, hot and salty in the same spoonful, and children are made to eat it. The point is stated plainly to them: the year will contain all of that.
The rest of the meal is a banana-leaf lunch: vadai, paruppu payasam or sarkarai pongal, sambar or a vegetable kootu, poriyal, appalam and rice. Many households also make vepampoo rasam, a rasam with dried neem flower, on the same reasoning.
Why did the Tamil New Year date change in 2008 and change back?
For three years the state had a different legal new year. In 2008 the DMK government under M Karunanidhi passed the Tamil Nadu Tamil New Year (Declaration) Act, moving the official Tamil new year from Chithirai 1 in April to Thai 1 in January, the day of Pongal. The argument was that Sangam-era Tamil texts, including the Tholkappiyam, pointed to Thai, and that the April date had come in with the Sanskrit calendar. A Tamil scholars' conference had proposed the same shift as far back as 1921.
It did not take. Temples, almanac makers and most households carried on with Chithirai. When J. Jayalalithaa returned to power in 2011 her government passed a repeal act and the April date came back as the official one. The episode is worth knowing because it explains why you will still meet Tamils, usually on the Dravidian side of the argument, who hold that Thai is the real Tamil new year and treat Puthandu as a religious import.
What else happens in the month of Chithirai?
Chithirai is also Madurai's month. The Chithirai Thiruvizha at the Meenakshi Sundareswarar temple runs for about a month. The first fortnight covers Meenakshi's coronation and her marriage to Sundareswarar, the Thirukalyanam. The second fortnight belongs to Kallazhagar, a form of Vishnu, who sets out from Alagar Koyil for Madurai and, in the best-known scene, enters the Vaigai river instead of the city. Shaivite and Vaishnavite crowds turn up for the same festival, which is part of why it is famous.
So Puthandu opens the month, and the temple festival comes a couple of weeks later. They are separate events, and a card sent for one is not a card for the other.
Where else is Puthandu kept?
Tamil Nadu and Puducherry keep it as a public holiday. In Sri Lanka the same solar moment is a public holiday shared by two communities: Aluth Avurudu for Sinhalese families and Puthandu for Tamil ones, with an astrologer-set gap between the old year and the new called the nonagathe, when people are told to stop work and go to the temple or kovil. Tamil families in Malaysia, Singapore, Mauritius, Réunion, the Gulf, Britain and North America keep the kanni and the pachadi wherever they are.
Across India the same solar day carries other names: Vishu in Kerala, Vaisakhi in Punjab, Bohag Bihu in Assam and Pohela Boishakh in Bengal. The rituals are not borrowed from each other; they are separate answers to the same sun.
What to write
Iniya Puthandu Nalvazhthukkal, Amma and Appa. Keep the pachadi ready. I will look at the kanni over video call if you hold the phone steady this time.
Puthandu Vazhthukkal! Hope the mango pachadi is properly bitter and the panchangam says something useful about your year.
Wishing you and your family a very happy Tamil New Year. Puthandu Vazhthukkal. Enjoy the leaf lunch and ignore the inbox.
Puthandu Vazhthukkal. Raw mangoes are impossible where you are, I know. Set out whatever fruit you can find, look at it first thing, and count it done.
Puthandu Vazhthukkal, Thatha and Paatti. Asking for the kai vishesham even though I am much too old for it. Bless us this year.
Puthandu Vazhthukkal to you both. First kanni in your own house. May the sweet part of the pachadi be the biggest part.
Puthandu Vazhthukkal. The pachadi says the year has all five tastes in it. Wishing you more of the good ones this time, and we are here for the rest.
Do
- Say "Puthandu Vazhthukkal" or the fuller "Iniya Puthandu Nalvazhthukkal", meaning happy new year. It is worth the extra two words.
- Send it in the morning. The kanni, the bath and the almanac reading are all done before lunch.
- If you are invited for the meal, eat the mango pachadi without making a face. That is the joke of the day and the host is waiting for it.
Avoid
- Don't call it Pongal. Pongal is the January harvest festival, and mixing them up is the one mistake Tamil friends will correct.
- Don't assume every Tamil keeps it. Some families, particularly those with strong Dravidian-movement views, treat Thai 1 as the Tamil new year instead.
- Don't wish a household that has had a death in the past year. Many Tamil families skip the first Puthandu after a death in the family.
- Puthandu Vazhthukkal
- Tamil new year greetings
- Varusha Pirappu
- The birth of the year, the older Tamil name for the day
- Kanni
- The arrangement of fruit, gold, a mirror and a lamp seen first thing in the morning
- Kai vishesham
- The cash an elder gives a younger person on the new year
- Panchangam
- The Tamil almanac for the year, bought fresh and read aloud
- Maanga pachadi
- The raw-mango dish with jaggery, neem flower, chilli and salt
- Chithirai
- The first month of the Tamil year, mid-April to mid-May
- Kolam
- The rice-flour pattern drawn at the doorway
How to wish someone on Puthandu
"Puthandu Vazhthukkal" is the wish, and Tamil friends notice when you use it. Keep it about the year ahead rather than about luck. Good things to name: the kanni their mother sets out before dawn, the new almanac, the first mango of the season, the pachadi that makes children complain. For a colleague, a plain new-year line plus the Tamil phrase is enough. Avoid calling it Pongal; they are two different festivals and Tamils are particular about it.
Write a few lines in your own words, pick a design and share it as one link on WhatsApp, Instagram or anywhere else. They open an animated card made just for them, with no app and no sign-up.
Language tip: English, Hindi + regional language.
When is Puthandu in 2026 and 2027?
Puthandu is on 14 Apr every year. Only the weekday changes.
- 2026
- 2027
Frequently asked questions
When is Puthandu in 2027?
Puthandu 2027 falls on Wednesday, 14 April 2027.
How do you wish someone a happy Tamil New Year?
Say "Puthandu Vazhthukkal", which means new year greetings in Tamil. A warmer, fuller version is "Iniya Puthandu Nalvazhthukkal", loosely "wishing you a sweet and good new year". Both are normal in messages, and plain "Happy Tamil New Year" is fine at work.
What is the difference between Puthandu and Pongal?
Puthandu is the Tamil new year, the first day of Chithirai in mid-April, marked at home with the kanni tray, new clothes and mango pachadi. Pongal is the harvest festival in mid-January, at the start of the month of Thai, and runs over several days with the boiling of the first rice and a day for cattle. They are different festivals at different points in the Tamil calendar.
Why is Puthandu almost always on 14 April?
The Tamil calendar is solar, and Chithirai begins when the sun moves into Mesha. Tamil almanacs use sunset as the cut-off: if the crossing happens before sunset, that day becomes Chithirai 1, otherwise the next day does. The crossing usually falls in the afternoon, which puts Puthandu on 14 April in most years.
What is kept on the Puthandu kanni tray?
A kanni tray usually holds three seasonal fruits (mango, jackfruit and banana), betel leaves and areca nut, gold ornaments or coins, raw rice, a coconut, flowers, a lit lamp, the new almanac and a mirror. It is arranged the night before in the puja room so that it is the first thing the family sees on waking.
Why is mango pachadi made on Tamil New Year?
Mango pachadi is cooked from raw mango with jaggery, neem flower, chilli, salt and tamarind so that it tastes sweet, bitter, sour, hot and salty at once. It is eaten as a reminder that the coming year will bring all of those in turn. Many homes also make a rasam with dried neem flower on the same day for the same reason.
Did the Tamil New Year date officially change at some point?
Yes. In 2008 the Tamil Nadu government passed an Act declaring Thai 1, in mid-January, the official Tamil new year instead of Chithirai 1 in April. The change was unpopular with temples and most households, and a new government repealed the Act in 2011, restoring the April date. Some Tamils still hold that Thai is the correct new year.
Last verified by the Kehdoo team on .