‘Vasant Panchami’ or Saraswati Puja heralds the onset of Spring in South Asian culture.
Like every year, we at UKHCA welcomed and celebrated the goddess of learning and wisdom by organising our annual Saraswati Puja on 2nd February, 2025.

As is customary, Saraswati puja invokes a lot of interest and enthusiasm among our young participants and this year was no exception. At UKHCA, one of our primary intentions has always been to strengthen the bonds of the younger generations with our roots and if the turnout at the venue was any indication, we definitely seem to be doing things right. Many tiny tots participated in the ‘Haate Khori’ (starting of learning process) ceremony conducted during the puja, along with their parents. Our priest made it a point to translate the meaning of the ‘mantras’ and hymns in English so that everyone, especially our children growing up here, can take interest and participate.

We also organised an art competition and cultural program for our young brigade to showcase their talent. Both the events saw participation in huge numbers. The theme for the art competition was ‘nature’ and the creativity, thinking and artworks completed by our young artists really blew our mind. This was followed by some very inspiring performances at the cultural program. Our budding artists made sure that we were entertained with a variety of dances, recitation, singing and instrumental music. It was an inclusive environment with the artists having the liberty to choose from multiple languages spoken across South Asia and the world.

Like always, we wrapped up the puja with some finger licking food – the customary ‘khichuri bhog’. The stalls were also a great attraction and we feel happy to be able to provide this platform for many businesses in our local area, through our events.

Looking forward to see all of you soon, again!