The soulful event of the Bengali people, PahelaBaishakh

Bangladesh is the origin of huge number of festivals. Some of the festival depends on the religion and community. But some of the festivals are for overall all the people. One of such festival is Pahela Baishakh. Pahela Baishakh is the first day of Bangla calendar. It is also known as Bangla Noboborsho. It is celebrated on the 14th April in Bangladesh and the day is declared as the national holiday. Pahela Baishakh is also celebrated in West Bengal, Tripura, Assam and Odissha on the 14th of 15th April month. It is one of the special days what the Bengali people concerning their heritage and culture. 

 

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The program is mainly celebrated by the Bengali people around the world but more celebration and arrangement can only be seen in Bangladesh and some state of India. As it is the cultural and national festival so there is no binding of religion. Any person living in this area can enjoy the festival with great enthusiasm. It is also observed that many non-resident Bangladesh and Indian people only visit the place to enjoy the celebration. The origin of this festival is from the Mughal area, when there was the custom of collecting tax by the ruler Akbar. The day is fixed on the first day of Baishaki month. The day is celebrated with different types of ritual arrangements. In the morning of the Pohela Boishakh a large procession can be seen on the street with colourful structures. This procession is known as the Mangal Shobha Jatra. 

This large procession is arranged by students and teachers of the Faculty of Fine Arts, Dhaka University. This profession shows the unity and bonding of the people of Bangladesh showing the respect and love for every religious people living in this country. It was categorized as the cultural heritage by the UNESCO and known as the heritage of humanity. This started on 1989 and is still active on every year. This procession is known as the procession for the well-being of the people country. In 2017 this procession two place in India following Bangladesh. Many programs are arranged on this day, one of the most attractive event of this day is the fair. The fear is arranged in the many places of the country, large-scale decoration is done by the people huge crowd is observed on this day to celebrate with their friends and family. Some of the fair is being arranged from a quite long period of time and it holds the cultural entity of the Bengali people. Some fair is arranged for seven days and some fair is arranged for the whole Baishakhi month. Baishaki fair has different types of stall mainly of clothes ,ornaments accessories, utensils, clay utensils and show pieces, toys, many cultural foods, entertaining rides. The food stalls have different types of rural foods and snacks that are not available on the regular shops. This type of fair is related to the Bengali culture. People of different age visit the fair enjoy the day with their friends and family.On the day of Pahela Baishakh people wake up in the morning, clean their house and eat panta elish as it is part of of Bengali aspect.

The panta rice is served with different types of vorta. Many people visit their friend and relative house it is a governmental holiday. From the morning of this day people are seen to be greeting each other as shuvo noboborsho.   Different recreational place in the city and the rural areas are seen to be crowded on the occasion of Pahela Baishakh. In some places of the country the boat race is being arranged and enjoyed by the people with much enthusiasm. The ‘Halkhata’ program is arranged by the shopkeepers and the business person in which the customers are invited by them. They feed the customers and the customers may pay the due money of the business. In this way a great bonding is created between the customer and seller. On the occasion of this day many cultural programs are being added in the different localities of the country. They made the arrangement for singing and dancing show the cultural site of Bengali people overcoming the boundaries of religious belief focusing on the unity, peace and strength of Bengali people. One of the central and oldest programs is arranged by the organization ‘Chhayanaut’. In the very early of the morning Program is arranged by this organization in Ramna Park.

On this day men and women wear sari and panjabi. They try to wear red and white color dress. Women wear beautiful bangles and flowers on their hair. On the occasion of these day people decorate their house, office and business center with colorful papers staff that are depicting the Bengali culture. As this festival is beyond religious boundaries, it is observed as soulful program of every people.   

Written by,

Sakibul Hasan

Information Collected