Source: timesofindia.indiatimes.com
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, KERALA, INDIA, October 17, 2010: Celebrating their first learning, thousands of children in Kerala entered the world of written language by scribbling their first letters on Vijayadasami day today, marking the conclusion of the Navaratri festival.
The day is also celebrated as Ayudhya Puja, when all tools are blessed.
Early in the morning, children, mostly aged two to three, along with their parents, thronged temples, schools, libraries, cultural centres and media houses to go through the ritual of writing their initial letters on the auspicious occasion, observed by Keralites as “Vidyarambham”, the initiation into learning.
Teachers, writers, artists, film personalities and even senior politicians helped the tots write their first letters “hari..sree..” in platters filled with rice after invoking the Goddess of learning and art Saraswathi.
Surprisingly, in local Christian churches, parents took their children before the priests and had them write a couple of lines of from verses of the Bible.