Some information about Vasant Panchami

To all
Today is Vasant Panchami in India . It is a Hindu festival to celebrate Sarasvati Mata (Mata means Mother in sanskrit which comes from the root maatr) , a hindu goddess of knowledge, music and art. Usually celebrated every year on the fifth day of the Indian month Magh(Spring season- january 21 to february 19 ) , that is why it is called Vasant (Spring) panchami (fifth day) .
A little bit about Mata Sarasvati
Mata Sarasvati is the consort of Lord Brahma( the creation aspect of the GOD ) as hindus identify that when GOD created male and female both aspects of male and female should represent him ( I am referring to GOD as HE , but kindly accept it for the time being until I come up with something else )
Similarly the other aspect of GOD; viz sustainence and destruction are represented by Lord Vishnu(with consort Laxmi), and Lord Shiva(with consort Parvati or Durga) respectively
Maa Sarasvati is mentioned in the Rig Veda as a mighty river flowing in the Rigvedic hym mentioning her as a mighty river with creative, purifying, and nourishing properties.




She has four hands representing four aspects of human personality in learning: mind, intellect, alertness and ego. She has sacred scriptures The Vedas in one hand and a rosary — in the second. With her other two hands she plays the music of love and life on a string instrument called the veena. She is dressed in white — the symbol of purity — and is usually depicted with a white swan that symbolises Sattwa Guna or purity and discrimination. Notice the river which is usually shown. It symbolizes Sarasvati river of the Rigveda which shows her to be the river goddess.
What do hindus do :
It is on this day children are taught to write their first words; brahmins are fed; ancestor worship is performed; the god of love is worshipped; and most educational institutions organise special prayer for Saraswati. The color yellow also plays an important role in this festival, in that people usually wear yellow garments, Saraswati is worshipped dressed in yellow, and yellow sweets are consumed within the families.
I rememeber the time when all of family members used to assemble in our in-home temple and my grandmother used to carry on the proceedings of the day . We used to make food yellow in color(by adding tumeric powder) and wore yellow clothes. I miss those times here in the USA. I was made to realize that I should pray a lot more since I am good at singing and studying ....... lol !!! Today after bathing, I prayed to her asking me to bless with all the goodness and I promised her that I would be a better human being in my life :)
This day is also celebrated in countries like Nepal with which we have strong and historic religious affiliation, and also in Bangladesh which has a fairly good Hindu population. The essence remains same but with regions, some traditions may vary.

May Mata Sarasvati give us all her blessings and let there be peace in this world -something it needs so badly these times.

Regards,
Manu

PS: I would like to aknowledge and thank Wikipedia for the information and to several other sites I took the images and material from