Vasant Panchami, vasant meaning “spring” and panchami meaning “fifth,” we celebrate across India this year on January 23, marks the joyful arrival of spring. This special day honors the Goddess Saraswati, the symbol of knowledge, wisdom, love and the arts. Celebrations include prayers, cultural activities and the wearing of yellow clothes, symbolizing both the mustard blooms and the vibrancy of spring. Vasant Panchami honors nature’s rebirth and pays homage to earth’s renewal and environmental hopes.
Vasant Panchami or Saraswati Puja creates altars with books and instruments, performing puja to seek knowledge and respect of the books, wearing yellow attire, yellow traditional foods and decor with yellow flowers. Young infants are allowed to perform their first letters or lessons, known as Vidyarambham, as a start to learning.
Civilizations live longer through their cultures and cultures are enriched by folk traditions, be it music, arts, storytelling, textiles, architecture, myths, legends or folk festivals. The greatest civilizations like Nile, Mesapotamia, Indus and Greek found ways to break the monotony of mundane, day to day, life of the people through celebration of life and what better way to do it than indulge in merry making together. Wherever you look around the globe, you will find people come together to celebrate their festivals.
There are festivals that are confined to a linguistic group or a community but Vasant Panchami is celebrated all over the sub-continent and beyond. The Sikhs celebrate Vasant Ritu as the festival of kites. In Maharashtra, married couples visit temples wearing yellow clothes on the first Vasant Panchami after their wedding. In Rajasthan, people wear jasmine garlands on this day. In Bihar, people visit the ancient statue of the Deo sun deity. Vasant Panchami is also of great significance to the Sufi Muslims as the day is marked the grave of the Sufi saint Nizamuddin Aulia in Delhi.
In India, to welcome the onset of brighter sunshine after the winter and ripening of mustard fields resulting in a landscape full of gold showered by mother Nature. It uplifts the spirits. Most assertive expression of freedom is to let something lose in the open sky and let it soar or drop. Kite flying on Basant is one such expression. It is a symbol of freedom literally, also metaphorically.
After months of cold and short days, Surya’s warmth invigorates and energizes the trees to grow new leaves and flowers to blossom. Vasant Panchami, is a reminder of the deep connection between nature and human life as communities rejoice in the bounty provided by the earth. This natural aspect of the festival highlights the importance of honouring and respecting the land and nature that sustains us, fostering a sense of gratitude and love towards the nature.
Pleasant weather, brighter days, lustrous green growths, blooming flowers, chirping birds, clear skies & cool breeze, together mark the advent of king of all seasons – the Spring. This is the time when nature presses the refresh button, creative potential is triggered and new life starts breathing all around.
This has been the description of spring archived in our memories & literatures across cultures. But this description might take a whole new turn, if the human race, you & me, continue to live with the worrying acts that this beautiful world never wants. The human-induced climate change has hit our very cherished Spring season.
The real- time scientific observations from across globe which highlight the adverse impacts of climate change on spring season. According to a landmark 50-year study, climate change is causing spring to arrive earlier, disturbing to natural life cycles which could make food prices rise & insect population collapse.
A nearly three-decades-long study reports that the pollen season has lengthened, starting many days earlier and lasting more days. Pollen triggers asthma, allergies and other respiratory issues. Thus, such prolonged pollen seasons directly affects our health. A field survey conducted by the Uttarkhand Forest Department has revealed that flowering & fruiting in four of the most common plants – Rhododendron, Kafal, Himalayan raspberry (Hisalu) & Himalayan cherry (Bhenkal) have been happening 3 -4 months before the normal season. Their natural fruiting & flowering time is during late spring or even summers, however, it is now taking place in late January instead.
Nature has its own clock that governs the onset and duration of every season. Trees, birds, insects get their cue to reproduce, grow, nest, migrate from the change in climatic factors. A small change in it causes a ripple effect in the environment. And since humans are an integral part of Nature, a profound impact of this change in natural cycles is seen in both human physiology & psychology.
And what could have been better occasion than to celebrate and welcome festival of spring – Vasant Panchami, to rebuild this connect with Nature. Vasant Panchami is a feat of ancient Indian Environmentalism, dedicated to Devi Saraswati, the goddess of everything finer in life. It is only fitting that the nature, in this season, is in its most beautiful form. The best way to celebrate this would be to learn from our knowledge on climate change to its impact to our life and future.
We ought to turn back to ancient Indian lifestyles which were innately pro- environmental. Each lifestyle choice has to be weighed against its potential to harm the environment. Only then we would honour Maa Saraswati, on the Vasant Panchami in true sense and keep her gift of colors, chirps, fragrance and beauty of spring alive.
Dr. N. Munal Meitei
Environmentalist, presently working as DFO/Chandel, email-nmunall@yahoo.in
