So today is, in the Indian spiritual / lunar calendar, vasant pañcamī – which, most people will tell you, is supposedly the celebration of “the first day of spring.”
Yet its the beginning of February and freezing cold. What’s up with that?
Well, first of all its not exactly a “celebration of the first day of spring,” not at all. Holi (two full moons after vasant pañcamī, right in the heart of spring) is much more literally a “celebration of spring.” Vasant Pañcamī begins the festivities leading up to Holi. It is not a celebration of Spring itself but of the fertility and creativity associated with Spring.
Yes, fertility, as in love-love.
That’s why the ancient way of observing Vasant Pañcamī celebrates Kāmadeva and Rati – the god of lust and the goddess of attraction. The personification of Spring, the god Vasant always attends Kāmadeva and Rati to create…
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