Basant Panchami 2021: Basant Panchami, also called Saraswati Puja, is a festival that marks the preparation for the arrival of spring season or ‘Basant’ and is also observed as the day when devotees worship goddess Saraswati.
The Saraswati Puja is observed every year on the fifth day of the Hindu lunisolar calendar month of Magha, which usually falls in late January or February. The festival is celebrated by people in various ways depending upon the region they belong to. Vasant Panchami also marks the start of preparations for Holika and Holi, which take place forty days later.
On this day, people wear yellow attires and pray to Maa Saraswati – the goddess of knowledge, music, language and arts in Hinduism. Yellow is the main colour of the festival for several reasons. During this time, spring flowers such as Daffodils, Marigold, Hyacinth and lilies bloom and they are usually yellow in colour. This is one of the reasons why yellow is a prominent colour of the occasion.
Another reason is that Goddess Saraswati’s favourite colour is yellow. So, devotees make sure her idol is clad in yellow clothing and yellow flowers are offered to the goddess. During the puja, people choose to wear yellow traditional clothing and accessories to honour the goddess.
A third reason is a belief that the colour yellow signifies knowledge, learning and happiness in Hindu culture. Along with wearing bright yellow clothing, people also prepare yellow-coloured snacks and sweets such as saffron rice, ‘Sheera’, Boondi ke ladoo and khichdi among others.
We wish our readers a Happy Saraswati Puja.
