Kolkata, Jan 12 (IANS): Cultural programmes, a tableau depicting his teachings and colourful processions marked the 150th birth anniversary celebrations of Swami Vivekananda in West Bengal Saturday.

The celebrations started early in the morning at his ancestral house in the city's Shimla Street, where people from all walks of life assembled to pay homage. A colourful procession, taken out mostly by school children, wound its way through the city's streets.

Governor M.K. Narayanan paid floral tributes to Vivekananda while his predecessor Gopal Krishna Gandhi was present at the monk's ancestral house.

At the Belur Math - the headquarters of the Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission, founded by Swami Vivekananda - the day was celebrated as Youth Day.

At the Math located in Howrah district's Belur, the celebrations started with mangalarati, special worship, homa, meditation, devotional songs and religious discourses. Here too school children took out a procession.

Following a declaration by the central government, Jan 12 is celebrated as the National Youth Day in the entire country.

The city's Ramakrishna Mission Institute of Culture, also a part of the Mission, launched a unique mobile tableau named "Shashwata Bharat" (depicting Indian spiritual & cultural heritage from the Vedas to Sri Ramakrishna) to spread the eternal message of Swami Vivekananda throughout West Bengal.