Pohela Boishakh, the day to celebrate the Bengali New Year, marks the day as a festival of life for millions of Bengalis. On this day everyone irrespective of religion, caste come together to welcome the new year. It is a universal national festival. Bengalis should go back to their roots on this day through Bengali New Year. This day shines with passion and love of life. Pohela Boishakh is being celebrated as a national festival in Bangladesh. All the language speaking communities in Bangladesh celebrate the festive day with different names. The Bengali New Year is welcomed through many events and activities including Mangal Shobhayatra, Halkhata, Boishakhi mela, Panta-Hilsha eating, water games of small ethnic groups, Phul Biju, farming. Today I will talk about the history of Bengali New Year, its impact on life and the spirit of Pohela Boishakh.
Esho Hey Boishakh Subho Nababarsha Song Is Written by Rabindranath Tagore.
O Boishakh, I call on you
Dust away all thatâs dying with your ascetic breath
Let the yearâs dross go.
Let go old memories, let go forgotten melodies,
Let mists of the eye thin far away into dissolution.
Let weariness be erased, infirmity cease,
Hallowed be the Earth to bathe in your fire
Come and dry all the sap of slush,
Bring forth and sound your conch of annihilation.
Let the foggy mesh of illusion be gone.
Pohela Boishakh
Pohela Boishakh (Bengali: āĻĒāĻšā§āĻ˛āĻž āĻŦā§āĻļāĻžāĻ) is the first day of the Bengali calendar which is also the official calendar of Bangladesh. This festival is celebrated on 14 April in Bangladesh.
History of Bengali New Year
Emperor Akbar introduced the Bengali calendar as a crop calendar. He introduced the Bengali year by turning the Hijri year into a solar year. Emperor Akbar wanted to eliminate the crisis of revenue administration by introducing Bengali calendar. The Bengal calendar was introduced from Boishakh during the reign of Emperor Akbar to facilitate revenue collection.
When the Celebration Started
The festival started on the first day of Boishakh during the reign of Mughal Emperor Akbar. He used to meet with the subjects on Pohela Boishakh. Wishing everyone good luck, sweets were distributed around. The Pohela Boishakh day is associated with a trivial matter like tax collection with singing, fairs and Halkhata ceremonies. In the countryâs business circles, the âHalkhataâ ceremony means opening the accounts of the new financial year.
When does Bengali New Year celebration start
The idea of celebrating Boishakh is not long ago. It comes from a response. When the British came, our traditional subject was still Chaitra Sankranti. The fair was held after the last day of Chaitra month. When the country became independent in 1972, Bangabandhuâs government declared Pohela Boishakh as a national festival.
How Bengali New Year is being celebrated
Chhaynat
Chhaynat started celebrating Pohela Boishakh during Pakistan period. Because after the British left, the Bengalis came under more pressure during the Pakistan period. Then they thought, they will celebrate Pohela Boishakh. Because it is our existence. From that thought, Chhaynat started organizing the New Year celebration at Ramna Batamul (under the banyan tree) in the early hours of the morning. According to the solar year, Bangabd (Bengali year) begins at dawn. Because of this Chhaynat started celebrating Pohela Boishakh at dawn. Chhaynat officially started this event, but it was already happening in village Bengali from house to house. This is how the practice of the New Year has been going on for a long time.
After that, apart from Chhaynat, various institutions and organizations in the capital, including Rishi Art Group, Sammilit Sanskultur Jot, Bangla Academy, Fine Arts Institute, Shilpakala Academy, Muktijudda Museum, Nazrul Institute, National Museum, Bulbul Lalitkala Academy, have turned Bengali New Year into a grand festival.
Mangal Shobhayatra (Mars Procession)
In 1985, an organization called Charupeeth held such a procession in Jessore. The entrepreneurs of which played a role in organizing the Mangal Shobhayatra in Dhaka and inspired from there, the Mangal Shobhayatra also started in art. In 1989, Mangal Shobhayatra was organized for the first time by the faculty of fine arts, but since 1996, this fine arts procession came to be known as âMangal Shobhayatraâ.
For the past three decades, Mangal Shobhayatra is being taken out every year on the first day of Boishakh by the initiative of art teachers and students. In 2016, this procession was recognized as a cultural heritage by UNESCO.
Boishakhi Mela
The Boishakhi Mela, part of the folk culture of our rural Bengal during the Bengali New Year, has been carrying special significance for ages. Village people, women-children-teenagers-old people all wait for the special day of Boishakhi fair. People from different castes and classes come from far and wide to the fair. Many people collect the daily necessities of the year from the fair. The Boishakhi fair has now become quite popular in the city. This fair is now sitting in every city in the light of urban culture. Cultural heritage of Bengal Once this fair was held only in the village on certain days, but now the scope of the fair has expanded to the city.
Handicrafts, agricultural products, folk handicrafts, cottage handicrafts, toys, womenâs ornaments, chira, muri, khai, batasa, sugar ornaments are available at the Boishakhi fair. For entertainment, there are various types of folk performances including nagardola, lathikhela, banshikhela, puppet dance, folk music, yatra, palagan, which have been giving us endless joy from time to time. Bioscope is there for the attraction of children and teenagers. This fair is a unique folk culture holder of Bengali life.
New year in the mountains
A large part of the country is inhabited by tribal. A total of 31 tribal groups are living in Bangladesh. Among them only 11 tribal communities live in Chittagong, Rangamati, Bandarban and Khagrachari districts. They are called âhill-tribesâ. Their festival is just like that of Bengalis. Bengalis irrespective of caste and religion come together on Pohela Boishakh. So are the tribals. Pohela Boishakh is a great proof of the compatibility of festivals among people. But the Pohela Boishakh of the tribals has a different name for each community. Biju, Sangrai, Baisuk, Vishu, Bihu are the traditional three-day main social festivals of the hills by floating flowers in the river. Basically, the main purpose of this festival is to erase all the sorrows and sorrows of the old year and to wish good luck for the new venture of the new year.
On the first day of this festival, on the day of Phul Biju, young and old, young and old, children float flowers in the river water in honor of Mother Ganga. Flowers will be floated on this day to wish for good luck. On the second day of the festival, in the main Biju, there will be a variety of delicious food and entertainment, including pajan curry. On Friday, the third day of the festival, Paharis spend the whole day sitting at home, resting, praying at Buddhist temples and inviting elders to their homes and taking blessings with careful feeding of rice. On this day, Paharis think that if they spend the whole day in joy and happiness, the whole year will be spent in happiness and wealth.
People of Marma community celebrate Sangrai and Jalkeli festival in harmony. The people of the Marma community of the hills gather in this water festival to welcome the new year by washing away all the sorrows of the previous year through the rain of Maitri water.
The verse without which Vaisavi remains incomplete is called Pajan. It is a special type of vegetable cooking. Pajan is cooked with at least seven types of vegetables. Paharis say that on the day of Biju, taking pajan in seven houses increases the immunity of the body. On Biju day, everyoneâs house is open for entertaining guests. Next day is new year. Jackfruit is the main ingredient of cooking on this day. About half a hundred types of vegetables are mixed with it.
Halkhata
Businessmen open the new ledger from the new year after settling all the debts of the previous year. Halkhata is the name of celebration, entertainment and formality of closing old accounts and opening new accounts. There are differences between village and city Halkhata. On the first day of Boishakh, traders clean the shop and decorate it with paper flowers in Halkhata village. play music Sweets and Jilapi are made by artisans in front of the shop. Or the customer is entertained with curd and bundia. The merchants of the city light up the shops. They provide sweets to entertain the customers.
Food preparation and Pohela Boishakh
Since Pohela Boishakh is the first day of the Bengali month, this day is centered on a feast of food and drink. In every house in town and village there is good-bad, less-more cooking, which everyone observes as an festival day. Sweets are the main attraction of any Bengali festival, in fact no Bengali festival or event is complete without sweets. And along with fish, fish. Various types of meat and fish are cooked on this day. Among the fish, the main attraction is Hilsa fish. And with curd - sweet.
Bengali fashion on Pohela Boishakh
There is an interest in buying new clothes especially on this day. There are some main colors in the dress, red-white or just red or just white is the first choice. This was a custom earlier too but nowadays it has become a fashion. On this day most of the men and women all wear red or white color regardless of the dress they wear. Men mostly wear Punjabi and most women wear Saree. A variety of colorful clothes can be seen on that day. Everyone comes out beautifully dressed and tidy to celebrate this day.
Last Word
New year has arrived. Peopleâs expectations for the new year - listen to new songs. May Boishakh come with a call to wake up with new enthusiasm by burning the âgarbage of failed livesâ, shaking off depression-depression-depression. May Boishakh break the chains of revenge, pettiness, corruption, superstition and backwardness, remove the ugliness and make the society free, let the light of progress be soft and peaceful, bring a call to the society. May the new year bring change in the country.
Happy tourism!
We see the wayâĻ
We show the wayâĻ
Hello guides, letâs guideâĻ
#localguidesconnect #localguides #letsguide #localguidesbd #BDLG #Bangladesh #localguidesbd
#BengaliNewYear #NewYear #Bangladesh #āĻ¨āĻŦāĻŦāĻ°ā§āĻˇ
