Celebrating Basant Panchami festival with your kids

Basant Panchami is one of the important festivals in India. It is celebrated across various states like Bihar, West Bengal, Tripura, Assam, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Punjab. It marks the start of the preparation of Holi which comes 40 days later. It is not only observed in India but also Nepal, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Indonesia. The dates for Basant Panchami or Saraswati Puja 2023 are January 25th and 26th. The tithi begins at 12:34 pm on January 25th and concludes at 10:28 am on January 26th.

The festival welcomes the Spring season and celebrates the birthday of goddess Saraswati. Let us see how you can celebrate this festival with your children at home. 

• Discuss the significance: We talked about the significance of the festival in the last article. Do read it up with your kids, so they will be able to celebrate it in its true spirit. 

• Discussing seasonal changes: Use the festival as an opportunity to discuss the different seasons that we have in India. The Met department classifies India’s seasons into four types namely, Winter, Summer, Monsoon and Autumn. The Hindu scriptures, however, mention six seasons namely:

  1. Vasant Ritu: Spring

  2. Grishma Ritu: Summer

  3. Varsha Ritu: Monsoon

  4. Sharad Ritu: Autumn

  5. Hemant Ritu: Pre winter

  6. Shita Ritu: Winter

Discuss the various fruits and vegetables available in each season, how we tweak our diet according to the weather or how human activities are having an impact on weather and climate change. 

• Wear yellow: Make the day fun by planning to wear yellow on this day. 

• Food: Involve your kids in cooking the delicacies for the day. Ask the kids to drop a pinch of Haldi into the rice before you cook it. See how it turns the entire rice into a beautiful hue of yellow gold. Get them to take some saffron strands and put it in warm milk. They will be amazed at how a few strands turn the milk orange. Use this to make some sweet rice. 

• Saraswati Vandana: Teach your children a song in praise of the goddess. The following prayer is meant to seek the goddess’s blessings before starting one’s learning journey. 

Saraswati Namasthubhyam

Varade Kamarupini

Vidhyarambam Karishyami

Siddhir Bavathume Sadha

 Another one that I know of is: 

Yaa Kundendu tushaara haaradhavalaa,

Yaa shubhravastraavritha

Yaa veenavara dandamanditakara,

aa shwetha padmaasana

Yaa brahmaachyutha shankara

prabhritibhir Devaisadaa Vanditha

Saa Maam Paatu Saraswatee

Bhagavatee Nihshesha jaadyaapahaa

• Arranging books: I will share with you the tradition that is followed in our house. You can plan something similar for your children too. One night before Basant Panchami, get your children to bring their school books and other tools (music books, instruments, paintbrushes, ghungroos, skates, etc. basically any item related to their hobbies). Arrange them neatly near goddess Saraswati’s image. Cover it with a neat cloth. 

• Prayers: After preparing the sweets, offer them along with flowers to the goddess. Sing the above songs together. Seek her blessings for helping kids excel in whatever they do. Take out the books and other items. Make it a point to get your kids to read the books/practice their craft on this day. 

• Writing on rice: For tiny tots, put some rice on a large tray and teach them how to write ‘Om’ with their fingers. It is a fun way to initiate little ones into writing without putting pressure on their tiny fingers. 

• Fly kites: Last but not the least, flying kites is associated with this festival especially in Punjab. So soak up some sun by flying colourful kites together. 

Hope this write up was useful to you. Wishing you a fun-filled Basant Panchami with your children.

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