The festival of spring and youth, Vasant Panchami was celebrated in the city with enthusiasm on Tuesday.
Many educational institutes and Hindu religious places organised Vasant Parva and offered prayers and garlands to Goddess Saraswati who is the mother of knowledge, art and culture . The festival was celebrated on fifth day of Hindu month of Magha heralds, the onset of spring in India.
It has a special place in the lives of people of mountainous areas of Uttarakhand. The tilling season starts with this festival and the farmers in the mountains prepare their bullocks for the arduous tilling season. They offer prayers in front of their bullocks and plough and after that the first straight burrow line is drwan by them in the field.
Barley leaves along with the cow dung is put at the entrance of the houses as it is considered very auspicious. Traditional dishes of sweet rice, bhura, sawalas are prepared by the women. The children collects yellow flowers in their baskets and put them in front of gates of all the houses in the village during dawn. The Vasant festival starts on Panchami and concludes with the festival of Holi. These customs are now on the wane in the villages.
The large scale migration has reduced the population of villages drastically. This has deteriorated the condition of agriculture with large areas turning into wastelands, therefore the festivals like Vasant Panchami have lost its significance wih due passage of time. Famous Garhwali folk singer Preetam Bhartwan rued the loss of cultural values among the new generation. Speaking to The Pioneer, Bhartwan said that old times were good while people are now running away from their roots. He said that along with the modern education people should teach significance of festival like Vasant Panchami to their children so that the culture of the hills is preserved.