Vasant panchami and its significance

Vasant panchami.... Vasant means spring and panchami means fifth day. This day is celebrated somewhere in the months of January to february

The beginning of spring is not always determined by fixed calendar dates. The phenological or ecological definition of spring relates to biological indicators; the blossoming of a range of plant species, and the activities of animals, or the special smell of soil that has reached the temperature for micro flora to flourish. It therefore varies according to the climate and according to the specific weather of a particular year. Most ecologists divide the year into six seasons that have no fixed dates. In addition to spring, ecological reckoning identifies an earlier separate prevernal (early or pre-spring) season between the hibernal (winter) and vernal (spring) seasons. This is a time when only the hardiest flowers like the crocus are in bloom, sometimes while there is still some snowcover on the ground. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spring_(season)

In terms of its cultural significance, vasant panchami has been compared to Chinese New Year and the Christian Candlemas, with the subsequent 40-day stretch between Vasant Panchami and Holi compared to the Christian Lenten season.

Vasant panchami is the festival marking the herald of spring in North India(however not entire north india). Due to the vast differences in the climate and weather conditions in different parts of India, the onset of seasons does not fall on the same day in different parts of India. the herald of spring is marked by sankranthi in the southern states of India. Again this festive day does not fall on the same solar calendar day. Some even consider it the harvest festival. it falls on the (shukla panchami) i.e the bright fifth day of  Magha  masam(month) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hindu_calendar

shukla(white&bright) paksham(one lunar phase or fortnight) means the waxing moon phase or the 15 days before the full moon. Krishna(dark) paksham means the waning moon phase

The other festivals that mark the herald and arrival of spring are - Sankranthi and thai Pongal (mostly in the southern India), Holi (mostly in Noth and notheaster india), Rongali Bihu(assam valley) and the Nowrouz (Jammu,kashmir and parts of gujrat and Uttarpradesh). These festivals also mark the harvest seasons of the particular regions.

The other significant feature of Vasant panchami is the worship of godess saraswati. Godess saraswati is  a  representation of knowledge, wisdom and education. this day is a tribute of paying respect to the knowledge and wisdom, life gives to humanity in the form of nature and its creation. On this day many tasks related to education are initiated... such as initiation of a childs education, laying foundation of any educational institution or any such education and knowledge related events.  

Man has always been god-fearing. he is aware of a higher/divine power responsible for life. So, many wise men have been using this attitude of man to bring in discipline into society , for the welfare and growth of mankind. 

Hindu Festivals

Hi, everyone,

I felt like writing a post on the Hindu festivals of India..... on Why, When and What they actually are. Please check out my up coming posts. I shall start off with the list of important festivals. All of these writings will only put forth my view and understanding of the different hindu festivals.

Back in my hometown.... people would call even the birthday as a festival.... 'Puttina-roju-Panduga'.... meaning the 'Birth-day-festival' So what exactly did they mean....  Most hindu festivals mention the worship of some god during a festival, so does it mean that birthday would be a worship of the particular person.. so exactly what does worship mean. Worship is a way of paying respect for what something or someone is......we hindus worship books for giving us knowledge and education, trees for giving us oxygen and shelter and maintenance of nature, cows for giving us milk, sun for its heat and light without which the whole world would not exist, the clouds giving us rain....and of course a human being......apart from worshiping god. Now, we do not worship the idols, but we worship the divinity called god that we represent in the form of an object that we use to focus upon... the IODOL....well, please refer to my post on Idolatry to see the real significance and reson for the use of idols.

Respect is a means of recognition of the value of anything because as human beings we are only a fraction/part of the world.

Be it a birthday or any festival for the hindus, we do not follow the solar calendar. However, with the blending of culture people now use the solar calendar for the celebration of birthdays. I  will not go into the details of how and why the solar calendar and months were established.

 Hindu festivals follow the luni-solar calendar or the luni-sidereal calendar. All the timing is calculated astronomically taking both the moon(mainly) and the sun positions related to the rotation and revolution of the earth ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hindu_calendar )
According to the hindu calendar, There are 7 days in a week, 12 months in a year each having a length of 29.530589 days  (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lunar_calendar)