Saraswati represents clear understanding and the power of speech. On this day families place books, pens, musical instruments and tools of their work before her and ask that their learning be used well. Many parents choose it for a child's first lesson in writing (Vidyarambh or Akshar Abhyas).
The colour of the day is yellow. Mustard fields are in flower across the northern plains, and people wear yellow clothes, offer yellow flowers and cook yellow sweets and rice. Yellow is associated with warmth, light and the ripening of knowledge.
The day is traditionally treated as an auspicious time to begin new learning, start a course of study, or perform rites such as a child's first meal or first writing. The Saraswati Puja Muhurat (Purvahna) shown above, in the first part of the day, is preferred for the main puja.
A traditional account says that when Brahma, the creator, first made the world, it was complete in form but silent and without expression. He sprinkled water from his vessel and a radiant goddess appeared holding a veena, a book and a rosary. When she played the veena, the world received sound, speech and meaning. She was named Saraswati, and Vasant Panchami is celebrated as her appearance day.
The day is also linked with spring and with Kamadeva, the god of love, whose companion is Vasant. Poets have long described this season as the time when nature comes alive, and in the Braj region it marks the start of the long Holi season that continues until Phalguna.
