Put down that book, no reading or learning today…
The Saraswati festival is celebrated in honour of Saraswati, the Hindu goddess of knowledge, music and the arts. She is one of the most revered and popular Goddesses in Bali and her gigantic statue can be found in every school, college and university. Families collect all their books, clean them off and dust them down, then place them in the family or school temples. Every place of learning and office is decorated lavishly, with shrines to the Goddess placed in the northeast corner of the building. Ornate offerings of food are taken in solemn procession to the piles of books in the temples and students and office workers get the day off as nobody is supposed to use books on Saraswati! (Does that go for computers too?)
More on the Saraswati Festival in Bali by Somewhere in the world today…
Picture: Procession to Pura Taman Saraswati by FabIndia, on Flickr
