Vasant Panchami is a festival full of religious, seasonal and social significance and is celebrated by Hindus all over the world with great enthusiasm.

It is a festival dedicated to Saraswati, the goddess of learning. This Panchami is also known as Saraswati Day. It is believed that this day is Saraswati’s birthday. Saraswati is also worshipped for spiritual enlightenment.

Feeding of Brahmanas and ‘ancestor worship’ (Pitri-Tarpan) is done on this day. On this day the god of love (Kamdev) is also worshipped.

Vasant Panchami marks the first day of spring. Vasanta means the spring. The fields are mustard yellow with the ripening of crops. Yellow is of auspicious colour - a colour of spirituality.

Yellow colour is given special importance on this day. On Vasant Panchami, Saraswati is dressed in yellow garments and worshipped. Men and women celebrate the day by wearing yellow clothes, holding feasts. In some areas of India Vasant Panchami is also the Festival of Kites.

As Goddess Saraswati is worshipped on Vasant Panchami in Bengal it is called the Saraswati Puja. Saraswati is generally represented sitting cross-legged on a lotus or a water Lilly holding Vina. Her vehicle is swan in Bengal and peacock in some regions. 

On this Vasant Panchami day, Brahma is said to have created Saraswati and infused speech into her and bestowed the Vina in her hands.