Why is yellow the colour of Basant Panchami?

Basant Panchami is a vibrant celebration of early spring or the end of winter, usually in end January or early February. It’s still mildly cold in India then, but the earliest flowers bloom during this time. The festival has given the name ‘basanti’ to bright yellow. But why is yellow so important for this day?  

How is yellow related to Basant Panchami?  
Within a month of Basant Panchami comes Holi, or the festival of colours. If we look at nature during Basant Panchami, we will notice that several yellow spring flowers bloom during this time. There’s the mustard flower, daffodils, marigold or genda, yellow hyacinth, yellow lilies and forsythia shrubs of rural India. So the colour yellow is visibly related to basant or spring, and therefore called basanti.   

How do people use yellow in Basant Panchami?  
Punjabi men wear yellow turbans, dhoti and jackets, while women use yellow dupatta and yellow salwar kameez. In Rajasthan, jasmine garlands mark this day. In Maharashtra, newly married couples visit temples to offer prayers on their first Basant Panchami together wearing yellow clothes. In Uttarakhand, Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvati are worshipped on Basant Panchami, flavoured yellow rice or 'meetha chawal' is eaten and people wear yellow. Vrindavan starts gearing up for Holi from Basant Panchami and temples are decorated with marigold garlands. Yellow is also the colour of Krishna’s clothes. In Bihar, Orissa and West Bengal, people wear yellow and celebrate Saraswati Puja on Basant Panchami. This too has a myth.  

What is the myth around Goddess Saraswati and yellow colour?  
Myth suggests that Devi Saraswati's favorite colour is yellow, though she wears white. Saraswati idols are always decorated with yellow flowers, with saris of white and yellow. Yellow is heavily used in decorations of the puja and even in offerings. Puranic myths say that the world was created by Brahma on Basant Panchami. First he created Goddess Saraswati, and then she blessed him by sitting on his tongue so he could pronounce the sacred chants of creation. Vyasdev, the legendary author of the Mahabharata, is said to have offered final puja to Saraswati on basant panchami after years of meditation. Yellow represents the brightness of the new sun, new life and peace, while white represents purity, knowledge and austerity.