Shree Panchami (Sharaswoti Pooja)

Shree Panchami (Sharaswoti Pooja) - Shree Panchami is celebrated every year on the fifth day of the bright half of the Hindu luni-solar calendar month of Magha, which typically falls in late January or February. The festival is particularly observed by Hindus in Nepal.

Shree Panchami is celebrated every year on the fifth day of the bright half of the Hindu luni-solar calendar month of Magha, which typically falls in late January or February. The festival is particularly observed by Hindus in Nepal.

Shree Panchami is the festival dedicated to goddess Saraswati who is their goddess of knowledge, language, music and all arts. She is the energy of Brahma, and she symbolizes creative energy and power in all its form, including longing and love (kama). The season and festival also celebrates the agricultural fields' ripening with yellow flowers of mustard crop, which Hindus associate with Saraswati's favorite color. People dress in yellow saris or shirts or accessories, share yellow colored snacks and sweets. Some add saffron to their rice and then eat yellow cooked rice as a part of an elaborate feast.

Many families mark this day by sitting with babies and young children, encouraging their children to write their first words with their fingers, and some study or create music together. The day before Shree Panchami, Saraswati's temples are filled with food so that she can join the celebrants in the traditional feasting the following morning. In temples and educational institutions, statues of Saraswati are dressed in yellow and worshiped. Many educational institutions arrange special prayers or pujas in the morning to seek blessing of the goddess. Poetic and musical gatherings are held in some communities in reverence for Saraswati.

In Nepal, people visit her temples and worship her (Saraswati Puja). Most of the schools arrange special Saraswati puja for their students in their premises.