Pahela Baishakh: Culture, tradition and celebrations

 

The turning of the calendar in Bangladesh from the old year to the new is as much a purification ritual as it is an artistic one and an opportunity for usto experience a New Year's celebration like none other. The tradition of the old year is a custom of symbolically ending the old year through many traditional celebration events. I would like to say in the words of Anton K. Kressnig, "Let our New Year's resolution be this: we will be there for one another as fellow members of humanity, in the finest sense of the word."And navigating the streets of country on the Bengali New Year's celebrations also becomes a festive exercise.

It is of course a spoof to accompany the craziness of the day but keep some changes on hand and give to a good cause, because whether you like it or not, you may not have a choice. If the weather on the New Year's Day is  just plain old miserable, you are probably thinking that next year might the time to spice it up a bit with some sun thrown in for good measure. The dawn of the New Year doesn't have to be the same old routine in our local, and with more and more people choosing to celebrate. The day is a touch of our tradition and art in our life.

New Year's Day in Bangladesh is generally a social holiday. Streets are decorated for New Year's eventide. All major TV stations air entertainment shows before and after the midnight countdown, which is followed by the National anthem of the country. The President and the Prime Minister of the People's Republics give their New Year speeches or messages. People prepare lavish meals and the day is celebrated by the observation of traditional rituals. In Dhaka and other cities, the New Year is celebrated with a grand concert.

There are lots of shows, events, awards and parties organized all over Bangladesh. Big and small celebrities and personalities perform as well as enjoy in these parties. Many local talents assemble to liven up the day and the night with their music and songs. But more often people like to celebrate the New Year's Day with their families. Hotels and resorts are also decked up in anticipation of tourist arrival and intense competition makes them entice the tourists with exciting New Year's offers.

Many people across the country also follow old traditions. The Hindu community organizes Pujas for a fruitful year ahead and the Christian community often go to church for a watch night service till midnight praying for blessing in the coming New Year. We may recite a few lines from Poet Md. Ziaul Haque's poem titled "PohelaBoishakh" as hereunder:

"Come you, the beginning of a dawn new,
Ready we are to receive you,
With Rabindranath's immortal lyrics,
And the verses of Nazrul that everyone seeks.

"You are the bridge between the past and the future,
The valiant tradition defender,
We salute you for beginning a new beginning,
Forgetting all that is evil and cunning.
We wish for your appearance again and again,
As from the sky falls friendly rain,
Thee we hail 'Pohela Boishakh',
Thee we hail 'Pohela Boishakh'."

The celebrations take place both at day and night. On this day, people go to the parties at club or hotels, beaches, at the crowded roadsides and bridges where firecrackers are blast out in the sky at night. The roadsides and bridges are also lighted up by colorful lights at night. People do a get-together as well as enjoy with their families. That day, Cox's Bazar becomes a popular tourist destination for both Bangladeshi and foreign tourists.
For much of Bangladesh, New Year's Eve begins with a large, traditional meal with family and close friends, but whatever the particular tradition, they all connect to our common desire to take a moment to shake off the bad vestiges of the past and start anew toward a better future. It is also about starting a new chapter, getting a clean slate, a new opportunity to start over. We congratulate the people of Bangladesh on the occasion of the Bengali New Year and reaffirm the bond between people of all of communities.

Generally, whenever it takes place, New Year traditions are designed to bring luck and good fortune in the year ahead. Pahela Baishakh or Bengali New Year is the traditional New Year day by the Bengali people. It is celebrated on 14 April as a national holiday in Bangladesh. The festival date is set according to the lunisolar Bengali calendar as the first day of its first month Baishakh. It, therefore, almost always falls on or about 14 April every year on the Gregorian calendar. The festival is celebrated with processions, fairs and family time.

In 2016, the UNESCO declared this festivity organized by the Dhaka University as a cultural heritage of humanity. It is celebrated across religious boundaries by its Muslim majority and Hindu minority. The day is marked with singing, processions, and fairs. Traditionally, businesses start this day with a new ledger, clearing out the old. Singers perform traditional songs welcoming the New Year. People enjoy classical jatra plays. People wear festive dress with women disking their hair with flowers.

White-red color combinations are particularly popular.Bengalis eat festive foods on Pohela Boishakh. These include panta bhat (watered rice), Hilsh vaja (fried hilsa fish), and various special bharta (pastes). Whatever be the celebrations, we should not forget what Neil Gaiman has said, "Be kind to yourself in the year ahead. Remember to forgive yourself, and to forgive others.

It's too easy to be outraged these days, so much harder to change things, to reach out, to understand. Try to make your time matter: minutes and hours and days and weeks can blow away like dead leaves, with nothing to show but time you spent not quite ever doing things, or time you spent waiting to begin. Meet new people and talk to them. Make new things and show them to people who might enjoy them. Hug too much. Smile too much. And, when you can, love."

The celebrations start in Dhaka at dawn with a rendition of Rabindranath Tagore's song "Esho he Baishakh" by Chhayanat under the banyan tree at the Ramna Batamul. An integral part of the festivities is the Mangal Shobhajatra (mass processions), a traditional colorful procession organized by the students of the Faculty of Fine Arts, University of Dhaka (Charukala).Different cultural organizations and bands also perform on this occasion and fairs celebrating Bengali culture are organized throughout the country.

The celebration of the Bengali New Year is connected with the Bengali year. In Bengal, Emperor Akbar started the Bengali calendar-year on 10 March, 1585, but it became effective from 16 March, 1586 the day of his ascension to the throne. The Bengali year is accepted even at the grass root level of our people. A possible reason for this may be that the basis of the Bengali year is agriculture and the beginning of the Bengali year is a time of collection of taxes from the farmers. For instance, the farmer does not plough the field even if it rains in Chaitra (the last month of the Bengali year and corresponding to mid-march to Mid-April).

The fields are generally ploughed in the month of Baisakh (April-May) and the prayer for the rains is also because of this. However, the common men observe the Bengali calendar of their day-to-day activities. In this context,  famed cultural personality, Shamsuzzaman Khan has rightly remarked that Akbar had once started the pan-Indian Islamic year as well as the Bengali year,  "The introduction of Bengali year had not only survived but at one time had also given the unique power of nationalistic feelings and pride to the separated and divided mainly joint Bengali society."

The most important function of Baisakh and the first day of Baisakh is the fair. The New Year fairs of our country are also nothing but the changed forms of the oldest 'seasonal festivals' and 'agricultural festivals' of Bangladesh. This is because local agricultural products and handicrafts are sold in these fairs even today. The only secular festival of Bangladesh, in every sense of the term, is the Bengali New Year. The New Year still adds a new dimension to the movements against tyranny. Considering all these aspects we can refer to the Bengali New Year as a festival of the world which has rare characteristic. Irrespective of the barriers of caste, religion and regional differences, Pahela Baishakh is the time for all the Bengalis in Bangladesh, India, West Bengal and Assam to connect to each other, celebrate and spread the message of love and hope. In Bangladesh it is a national holiday. In the states of West Bengal and Assam in India, this day is observed as a state holiday.

Numerous people assemble early in the morning at Ramna Park in Dhaka where the Chhayanat artists give a beautiful start to the day with Rabindranath Tagore's songs.For the Bengalis, the significance of the Bengali New Year is surely great! This occasion and in fact the whole month of Baishakh is considered very auspicious for events like marriages. Further, this is the day when people pray for the well being and prosperity of their dear ones. The day is a cultural, social and literary feast for the Bengalis.

Let us write in the words of Ralph Waldo Emerson, "Write it on your heart that every day is the best day in the year." This day is also considered auspicious for starting new ventures and businesses. All business activities in Bangladesh commences on the day of Pahelala Baishakh. New account books are purchased by the Bengali business men and traders. The historical significance of the Bengali New Year in Bangladesh dates back to the year 1965 when the day was observed by the Chhayanat.

The-then Government of Pakistan tried to suppress the Bengali culture by putting a ban on Rabindranath Tagore's poems and songs. The Chhayanat, however, protested against this move by opening up their Bengali New Year celebrations at Ramna Park with nothing but the same songs and poems by Tagore. So, from the-then East Pakistan, this day continues to be observed as a symbol of Bengali culture. Following the year 1972, this came to be observed as a national festival. Melody Beattie's words captivate us: "The new year stands before us, like a chapter in a book, waiting to be written. We can help write that story by setting goals."

Presently, Pohela Baishakh or Bengali New Year stands for cultural unity where there is no distinction made on the basis of religion, class or caste. It is all about spreading love and happiness, gift-giving and praying for each other's well being and prosperity. Alfred Lord Tennyson wrote, "Hope smiles from the threshold of the year to come, whispering, it will be happier."  Let us embrace the new year of the Bengali calendar with a pure heart. The word 'beauty' is enough to describe Bengali tradition and culture. The rustic countryside, serene greenery and eloquent rivers of Bangladesh inspire beauty in everybody and everything. This Pahela Baishakh, celebrate the magnificence of beautiful Bengal. And I wish all a very Happy Bengali New Year.


Anwar A. Khan is a freedom fighter who writes
on politics and international issues.