The festival Panchami in India is known as Saraswati Puja. The word “vasant” means spring, and Vasant Panchami marks the beginning of the spring season and the coming of the festival of Holi.
Goddess Saraswati Devi is the goddess of wisdom, speech, learning, higher education and music. She presents holding her instrument the veena in two hands, a book in another, and a mala (for mantra repetition) in the fourth hand. Goddess Saraswati wears a white sari and loves to sit on a lotus or a swan which are symbols of purity.
Devotees and students perform a puja (ceremonial worship) to Saraswati and ask her to bless their books and other school supplies, so that they perform well in studies and are blessed with her qualities. Books in India are thought as sacred objects, so they are never put on the floor. Yellow flowers are offered to Saraswati during the Vasant Panchami puja for Saraswati’s Birthday!
Birthday Blessings and Happy February!
Kelly Krishna Dunn
Intuitive Magazine 