Vasant Panchami 2019- Customs And Traditions Of The Festival

This festival marks the veneration of Lord Krishna and Devi Saraswati. People ask the goddess to grant them boon for wisdom and knowledge. Primarily known as the festival of students, poets, musicians and teachers, everyone bows down before her and prays to her to grant them right guidance and help them excel in the field of education.

In North India, people generally observe a fast on this day. They wear yellow garments and cook yellow food items, loaded with turmeric and saffron. Deities of Mother Saraswati are decorated and people offer her prayers. People in Punjab celebrate by flying kites – they call it Dor and Guddi festival. In Central India, the newly wedded couples dress themselves in yellow and then visit a temple and offer first Vasant Panchami puja. In areas like Bali and Indonesia, people dress up in their finest clothes and offer good food to their teachers.

In Eastern lndia, specifically West Bengal, people observe “Hathe Khori” i.e. they ask their children to learn alphabets and write it down. In ancient times, the sanskar of Vidya aarambha was usually performed on this day. The student were admitted to gurukuls and they used to learn their first lesson from their teacher on this day.

During Vasant Panchami, students generally clean their book shelves and schools clean their libraries and organise a small puja where they pray to the goddess and ask her to help them score well for the upcoming annual exams.