Vasant Panchami · Saraswati Puja Festival The fifth day of the bright fortnight of Magha, the first day of spring and the day of Saraswati.
The name
The same day, written in each of the six scripts this app keeps
- English
- Vasant Panchami · Saraswati Puja
- हिन्दी
- वसंत पंचमी · सरस्वती पूजा
Only the names actually in use are listed. A blank script is not an omission: the day may simply not be kept there, or be kept under a different festival's name.
UTC+5:30
The date of a festival depends on the place: a tithi that ends at dusk in Chennai can still be running at dusk a thousand kilometres west, which moves the day. Sunrise and sunset here are computed for the place above.
When it falls next
Looking for the calendar this day belongs to
This day does not fall again in the next three years at this place. A few days are tied to the solar month rather than to the civil year, so a year can hold two of them or none.
What the day is
The fifth day of the bright fortnight of Magha, the first day of spring and the day of Saraswati. Yellow is worn and yellow food eaten for the mustard in flower; children are made to write their first letters at the aksharabhyasam, and musicians and students put their instruments and books before the goddess. Bengal keeps it as the main Saraswati Puja of the year.
- Deity
- Saraswati, Kamadeva
- Kind
- Festival Days of celebration: the house is decorated, a feast is cooked and the temple is visited.
The hour
The rule in words
The Panchami running at purvahna, the forenoon, which is the rule the panchangs use for this day; the first letters are written in that window.
The fast
No fast is required; many eat only after the morning puja. Kesar halwa, boondi and yellow rice are offered.
Where the regions differ
Bengal, Odisha, Bihar and the north keep Saraswati Puja here; Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Karnataka keep theirs on Navami in Navratri instead, so the two Saraswati days are four months apart.
Fixing a day for it
The muhurtham rules that go with this festival
Vidyarambham or aksharabhyasam, the first letters. Vijayadashami and Vasant Panchami are the classic days and need no further checking. Otherwise Wednesday and Thursday, the days of Budhan and Guru, are the best, Rikta tithis are left out, and the hour is usually the morning.
Every date here is computed from the Sun and Moon for the place entered, by the rule printed beside it. A printed panchangam can differ by a day where an almanac reads a tithi at a different instant, and a family's own custom always comes first. Where the practice genuinely varies, the text says so rather than choosing for you.