Celebrating Pohela Boishakh In Bangladesh

Bangladeshi people are well-known for their custom, culture, hospitality & for their divine power of adaptation through adversities. Well, their celebration in different festivals is a part of their custom & they know well how to celebrate.

The first day of the new year is celebrated in a befitting manner all over the world. Bangladeshi people are no exception in this respect.

This time it is 1419 on Bangla calender; but ought to it suggests & indicate that life did start 1418 year ago? If fact it was a non-Bengali Mughol king, Emperor Akbar - who introduced Bangla calender based on Gregorian calender , Boishakh being the first month of the year- coinciding his antecedence to the Mughol throne. So each year, knowingly or unknowingly, when they celebrate Pohela Boishakh, we're also celebrating the coronation day of the Emperor Akbar.

Akbar's idea of introducing Boishakh as the first month of the year gained immense popularity because for a long time it was already the month of new harvests & celebration among Bangali people.

People from all walks of life celebrate this great occasion with enthusiasm & funfair. On major religious celebrations, like- Eid, X-mas & so on; people from a specific religion celebrates the event with great spirit & joy. But Pohela Boishakh is the day which is celebrated by the people of all religions, ethnicity, languages, think, race & age. The harmony of this celebration is brilliant & inspiring. Pohela Boishakh opens a new year on Bangla calender & inspires all of us to start a new fresh life with hopes, aspiration & prosperity.Pohela Boishakh lasts for a day but it remains in our mind for a long period. This is the day to access our past, draw new hopes & aspiration for the future.

The whole Bangladesh celebrates the day in every way feasible and definitely they celebrate the day in Bangali culture and custom. Housewives cook appetizing dishes including 'Panta-Vat' and 'Pitha-Payesh' and everybody tries to wear new dresses. The costume reflects our traditions ans nationality as females wear sharee & males wear Lungi/Pagama -pungabi. The occasion is immense. Even for day we're Bangali in every way feasible. kids & teenagers use tattoos of different types- mostly the welcoming verses of Pohala Boishakh or NoboBorsho to show the importance of their celebration mood. Pohala Boishakh is celebrated all over the Bangladesh & west Bengal in India as well as different countries including USA & UK among Banglai community.The celebration is immense both in towns & country sides as well.

Village people mostly take the day of from their works & enjoy the day with relatives members. They take their kids to fairs & bazaars & buy them different toys, dolls, dresses, sweet-meats & flutes. Flute is of the most favourite items among kids & the sound is in every single place. Halkhata- which is a widely known party for rural people based on the day, Pohela Baishakh. The businessmen of all kinds close the debit-credit that day & open new note-books/ debit-credit khata & as to make the event more fascinating & acceptable there is a party thrown by them. Sweetmeat & Luchi is the main food offered in the party of the Halkhata. In the fairs people watches different shows , play on nagordolas & enjoys with great enthusiasm. People sometimes walk having their kids on top of their shoulders- mile after mile- to take their kids to the fairs & bazaar. Ladies prepare foods for the relatives members, wears new sharee (specially Red & White) & visit neighbors. Parents give their kids money to visit the fairs & to buy toys & foods. The rural & sub-urban dwellers celebrate the day as a outstanding day of the year.


In towns and giant cities, various social-cultural organizations arrange cultural and other programs including country songs , traditional dance, discussion, poem reciting etc. In Dhaka the first program of the day takes place at Ramana Batamul organized by leading cultural organizations. Baishakhi Mela at the Dhaka University is of the main attractions and people from all part of the city collect there. People also organize cultural programs in various places of the city. Girls and boys wear traditional costumes including sharee, Pungabee, gamsa and sandals. City people eat traditional 'Panta-Ilish' in the morning and other expensive foods and dishes at lunch and dinner.This is a national holiday and people enjoy the day every way feasible. The city dwellers have limited time to enjoy and refrain from works and this is of the days they live a full life.

There is in fact no New year or Pohela Boishak , because time flowing perpetually is eternal in indivisible. Yet people around the globe divide and picture time in to years, months, weeks, days, so on and forth. Bangali are no exception and they have the New Year of their own and it's Pohela Boishakh. Bangali celebrate the Pohela Boishakh to access their past, draw new hopes and aspiration for the future with great enthusiasm and excitement. Pohela Boishakh thus the day day they cherish, the day they celebrate, the day they become complete Bangali, forget our past errors and the day for a better future.