Pahela Boishakh is a traditional universal folk festival of Bangalees. This day welcomes the Bangla New Year in a joyful atmosphere. The New Year is a symbol of welfare and new life. The New Year is celebrated with the hope of happiness, peace, and prosperity, forgetting the past mistakes, errors, and failures.
According to the Gregorian calendar, this festival is celebrated in Bangladesh every year on April 14. This day has been fixed according to the modern Bengali calendar determined by the Bangla Academy. Businessmen of different levels welcome this day as an opportunity to start business anew. The day is celebrated through various activities like processions, fairs, eating Panta Bhat (soaked rice), opening Halkhata (new ledger), etc. The traditional greeting of Bengali New Year is 'Shubho Nababarsho' (Happy New Year).
Today is Pahela Boishakh. Bengali year 1432. On the day of the beginning of the New Year, Ananda Shobhajatra (Mangal Shobhajatra) is organized in different places of the country including the capital Dhaka. UNESCO declared this festival procession as 'an invaluable cultural heritage of humanity' in 2016.
Like every year, the country will be immersed in colorful festivities on Pahela Boishakh this year as well. The first light of dawn will paint new dreams, expectations, and possibilities.
As the first day of the New Year is a public holiday, everyone tries to share the joy of the festival with their respective families. Various arrangements have been made in the capital this year centering on the day.
Ramna Batamul: Chhayanaut's songs with the sunrise of Boishakh
Ramna Batamul means Bengali New Year. Like every time, Chhayanaut's New Year celebration will be held at 6:15 am on the first day of Pahela Boishakh. The New Year will be welcomed with songs, poems, recitations and cultural performances throughout the day at Ramna's Chhayanaut stage.
Dhaka University: The wave of life in the Joy procession
The traditional Mangal Shobhajatra is organized by the Faculty of Fine Arts of Dhaka University. This time the name has been changed to Joy procession. The TSC and Fine Arts premises will be festive from the morning. Thousands of people will participate in various colorful masks, large puppets and various artistic decorations. This is a UN-recognized 'cultural heritage of humanity'.
Suhrawardy Udyan: Band music storm in Boishakhi concert
Boishakhi concert will start from 3 pm on this day. Popular bands Warfaze, Dalchhut, Avoid Rafa, Lalon, Vikings, Stone Free will participate in it. Besides, bands of small ethnic groups of Bangladesh like Garo's 'F Minor', Chakma's 'Invocation', Tripura's 'Imang', Marma's 'Chimbuk', and Khasia's 'Unity' will also perform their own culture and music.
Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy: Two days cultural festival
'Nabapran Andolan' has organized a two-day festival at Shilpakala Academy in Segunbagicha on April 13 and 14. Renowned artists of the country will participate in songs, dances, dramas, recitations and exhibitions.
Rabindra Sarobar: Exceptional arrangement of Surer Dhara
New Year celebrations with the participation of hill and plain ethnic groups will be organized by Surer Dhara from 6 am in Rabindra Sarobar of Dhanmondi. This event will feature song, poetry and dance performances on the open stage. There will be various arrangements of Bengali food.
National Parliament Building: Drone show and cultural program
On the occasion of Pohela Boishakh, there will be a unique drone show at the South Plaza of the National Parliament Building with the participation of a Chinese technology team. In the evening there will be a Boishakhi band show and a colorful cultural program.
Besides, the main attraction of this year's procession is the 'portrait of autocracy'. Although this portrait was recently set on fire, it is being reconstructed in a short time. Light and easily transformable materials like cork sheets are being used to build the structure. The visible part of the portrait has already been completed.
Not only the 'portrait of autocracy', but a 15-feet-high water bottle has been built in memory of those killed in the July-August uprising, which is the embodiment of Mir Mugdha's much-talked-about 'water needed' theme. There will be several empty bottles inside this bottle, which will be used as a symbol of martyrs.
Besides, there will be large-sized hilsa fish, wooden tigers, peace pigeons, horses, palanquins, Sultanate and Mughal-era masks, colorful wheels, scroll paintings and various sculptures.
Watermelon slice motif has been placed in the procession to protest against Israeli barbarism and to express solidarity with Palestine. The organizers said that watermelon is a 'symbol of resistance and perseverance' for Palestinians, as its color reflects the colors of the Palestinian flag.
The fundamental difference between the Bengali calendar and the Hijri and Christian years is that the Hijri year is calculated by the moon and the Christian year is determined according to international standards. For this reason, the new date in the Hijri year starts in the evening after the new moon is visible in the sky and the new day in the Christian year starts according to UTC ±00:00.
Pahela Boishakh does not start at 12 o'clock at night but starts from sunrise. There are differences of opinion about this. Although the tradition of counting Bengali days from sunrise, from 1 Baisakh of 1402 BS, the Bangla Academy abolished this rule and introduced the rule of counting days from 12 o'clock at night to match international customs.
