Pohela Boishakh is derived from Pohela, meaning first, and Baishakh, which is the first month in the Bengali calendar. It is celebrated on 14 April as a national holiday in Bangladesh and on 14-15 April in the Indian states of West Bengal, Tripura and parts of Assam by people of Bengali origin, regardless of their religious faith.
There's more to the Bengali New Year than sitting around typing Shubho Noboborsho messages to loved ones on WhatsApp. Poyala Baishakh means the celebration of Bengali identity. The fashion of white and red sarees, Bengali food and drink, Halkhata – all these awaken the memories of Bengalis.
People buy new clothes for the occasion, create a playlist of Bangla hits (or Rabindra Sangeet classics), watch the latest Hoichoi release, clean up, and decorate homes with alpona patterns and flowers.
Bengalis also sometimes visit a nearby river to say prayers and bathe in preparation for the coming year. The festival begins early in the morning and features traditional singing and dancing, poetry recitation, and festive processions through the streets from the early hours.
Haal Khata in West Bengal
The processions are accompanied by a special puja of Lakshmi or Ganesh that includes the halkhata (books of accounts), with mantras being chanted and a priest drawing swastika on the halkhata.
Pohela Baishakh, synonymous with New Year, is an occasion for a fresh start, accompanied by a thorough cleaning of the house and followed by the creation of a colourful Alpana on the floor of every house. This is a geometric design (considered an example of sacred art) made with rice, flour, coloured sand and flower petals in the centre of the house, where an earthen pot containing holy water and mango leaves is placed to symbolise prosperity and good fortune.
If you can't find alpona to buy, you can make your own! Soak low-quality rice in water overnight, then grind it. Add just enough water to make the ground rice into a paste, and you're done!
Mangal Shobhajatra in Bangladesh
One of the most spectacular Pohela Baishakh festivals takes place in the Bangladeshi capital, Dhaka. The center of the local celebration is Ramna Park (Ramna Batamul), under the banyan tree, where people traditionally gather and the Chhayanaut artists greet the new day with the very famous songs of Rabindranath Tagore.
In Dhaka, thousands of students wearing masks participate in a festival known as Mangal Shobhajatra, during which colorful bamboo animal figures – such as the Bengal tiger seen in today's Doodle cartoons – are carried above the crowd, along with flying birds and elephants.
This traditional festival of Mangal Shobhajatra, started in 1989 by the students of the Faculty of Fine Arts, University of Dhaka, was inscribed in the UNESCO list of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2016. During the tour through the avenues of the University, one will get a taste of Bengali culture and its traditional activities.
Crowds enjoy folk attractions and traditions such as snake charmers, circus acts, cockfights, and street games in the streets. Everyone wears the traditional festive attire: the girls wear the red-bordered sari and also wear the churi bangles, the ful flowers and the typical bindis. The men, on the other hand, wear the white paejama or pants or the lungi (dhoti/dhuti), that is a long skirt or the kurta, that is a tunic.
By participating in the Pohela Baishakh rally, one can easily get involved in dancing and singing with the locals on the streets exchanging greetings throughout the day Subho Noboborsho, literally Happy New Year.
Bengali New Year Food
On the first day of Baishakh, Bengalis prefer to go back to their roots, avoiding the cravings of Chinese, Japanese and Thai. The joy of the New Year is in vain if they do not have a feast with hot rice, served on a plate and surrounded by a variety of dishes. The meal begins with bitter national dishes, and ends with chutneys and sweets. However, recently, Bengalis have been enjoying 'fusion' food. That familiar cuisine is being decorated in various ways, in different ways, with the quality of the hands and the presentation.The typical food of this New Year celebration in Bangladesh consists of panta bhat (soaked rice), shutki (dried fish), fried hilsa fish, muri ghonto, Kanchkolar Kofta, Basanti Pulao, Lobongo Lotika, Bhapa Doi, Rasgulla and achar (pickles).
Bengali New Year in the UK
Since 1997, Pohela Boishakh has been celebrated as Boishakh Mela in the United Kingdom. This festival takes place in the predominantly Bangladeshi neighborhood of Banglatown, located in the Tower Hamlets borough of London. The festival includes a parade, a series of music and dance performances, and, of course, authentic cuisine.
