Basant Panchami

What happens

Basant Panchami falls on the fifth day of the bright half of the month of Magha and announces the coming of spring. Its colour is yellow, the colour of mustard fields in flower across Punjab and the northern plains. People wear yellow, cook yellow rice and offer yellow flowers to Saraswati, the goddess of learning, whose worship is the heart of the day in Bengal and in schools across India. In Bengal the flame-coloured palash is the flower of her puja.

The flowers

Brown mustardMustard, whose yellow fields give the day its colour.Aztec marigoldYellow marigolds, offered to Saraswati and strung at doors.Flame of the forestPalash, offered at Saraswati Puja in Bengal.