Saraswati Puja is the unofficial Valentine’s day for youngsters of West Bengal. On this day, one can feel the love in the air of every lane of Bengal.
Saraswati puja or Basanta Panchami marks the beginning of the spring season. Spring is a season of cliches — the chirping of birds, blooming of the flower, new colors and the warmth of the season make people fall madly in love.
Organizing pujas are the biggest community activity in Bengal. Mostly, young people organize Saraswati puja. In every hook and corner, one can see beautiful idols Goddess Saraswati.
Saraswati Puja is celebrated in most of the school and college premises of Bengal. So, Schools and universities also remain open, and everyone gets to socialize with each other.
Saraswati is the Goddess of knowledge and wisdom. Among Bengalis, there is a tradition that they keep their books at the feet of Goddess Saraswati idol. If one is not good in any subject, he surrenders that book near Goddess with the hope, that he will get her blessing to score more in that subject.
It’s Goddess’s day to give blessings. So, parents do not allow kids to study on this day. There is no tension to study. Kids do not hear the usual rant of ‘Porte bosh'(to study ) from parents. This day bong teenagers do not need the permission of parents to stay out.
For Bengalis of West Bengal, the importance of Saraswati Puja can be understood, with the many first associated with this day. To get the blessings of the Goddess of Knowledge, kids write for the first time in Her presence, a ritual known as Hathe Kori. The day when young Bengali girls adorn saree for the first time. And, this is also the day when the teenagers encounter their first love.
As per the Bengali calendar and the Gregorian calendar, the dates of Saraswati Puja and Valentines’ day often overlap. As valentines day is near. So, love is any way in the air.
As on Valentine’s day, parents remain more vigilant. On Saraswati Puja, young lovers can avoid their gaze. The celebration gives an excellent excuse to hang out with the loved ones away from the investigating glares of the neighborhood. Friends hang out with their gang. They give Anjali together and do pandal hopping. Couples go on a date to parks and restaurants.
The fading away of winter, flowers blossoming, and the chirping of birds make Saraswati Puja the perfect day to celebrate love.
Young men and women look their traditional best on this day. Bengali Girls wear yellow Sarees as yellow is the color of spring. Boys look dashing in Pajama-Panjabis(Kurta Payjama).
The smell of khichuri, the chorus of pushpanjali from almost every household, and the phenomenon of the youth stepping out of their homes in their ethnic attire bears the hallmark of Saraswati Puja.
However, this phenomenon is specific to West Bengal. ‘Probashi Bengalis’, meaning Bengalis living out of Bengal, do not relate to this. While they also celebrate Saraswati Puja with devotion. The love part remains missing.
But how Saraswati Puja became the Bengal’s Lovers Day. Well, the tradition came into being due to the Societal practices of yesteryears.
In old days, most schools in West Bengal were not co-educationals. Society was conservative, and teenagers were restricted from freely mingling with the other sex. Saraswati Puja was a day when the girls’ and boys’ schools were opened up, and everyone was allowed to enter their premises to see the deity. This made the day of the Puja, a small window where every teenager had a little bit of freedom to get to know girls/boys from other schools.
Necessity is the mother of invention, and the necessity for teenagers back then was a platform to meet each other, and the Puja provided that much-needed window of opportunity.
When Valentine’s day became popular, people saw the similarity and started drawing the analogy with Saraswati Puja. It is mainly the opportunity that made Saraswati Pujo the unofficial Lovers’ Day.
Saraswati Puja has become one of the most awaited days of the year for the youngs of Bengal.
