Among the bustle and color of Navratri comes a quieter moment.
Saraswati Puja.
Books may be placed before the Goddess.
Musical instruments are set down.
Children bring the things they use to learn.
For a little while, objects normally associated with effort, exams, practice and work are treated with reverence.
It is a beautiful idea.
Knowledge deserves gratitude.
So does the ability to learn.
And perhaps even the opportunity to begin again after getting something wrong.
In many South Indian homes, Saraswati Puja forms an important part of the final days of Navratri. The following Vijayadashami is traditionally considered auspicious for beginning education and artistic learning.
There is something deeply gentle about that sequence.
First, acknowledge what enables learning.
Then begin again.
The celebration also reminds us that knowledge isn't limited to what comes from books.
A grandmother teaching a recipe carries knowledge.
A musician teaching a kriti carries knowledge.
A weaver understanding tension, yarn, color and pattern carries knowledge.
A mother showing her daughter how to pleat a saree carries knowledge.
Much of what becomes culture survives because somebody takes the time to show somebody else.
Perhaps that is why Saraswati Puja feels so at home during Navratri.
The festival itself is an act of remembering and passing things forward.
This year, amid the flowers, clothes, visitors and celebrations, perhaps we can make a little room for gratitude toward everyone who taught us something worth keeping.
Some inheritances are objects. Others are knowledge. The most beautiful traditions give us both.