Tulsi Vivah

Vrinda, devoted wife of the asura Jalandhar, was so faithful that her husband could not be killed. Vishnu took Jalandhar's form and broke her devotion, allowing his death. Cursed by her, Vishnu became the shaligram stone; she became the tulsi plant, and their marriage is performed each year in reparation.

A tulsi plant is dressed as a bride, sari, bangles, a small mandap of sugarcane, and married to a shaligram or a Krishna idol, with a full wedding ceremony including mangalashtaka verses. Traditionally the season's first wedding, and in many families no household wedding is held before it.

Wedding fare, puran poli, sweets, sugarcane, amla, and the season's new produce.

Maharashtra and Gujarat observe it most elaborately, often over five days. In the south the equivalent is Tulasi Kalyanam. The tulsi vrindavan in a Maharashtrian courtyard is decorated for it specifically.