Pahela Baishakh Celebrated Across the Country Amid Festivity

Pohela Baishakh observed amid festivity

Pahela Baishakh, the first day of Bangla calendar, was celebrated on April 14, 2014 amid much fanfare and festivity across the countries educational institutes.

The 'Mongol Shobhajatra' (March for well-being), organized by students of the Fine Arts Institute of Dhaka University (DU) and several other universities across the country. People joined the procession sporting festoons, replicas of animals and other traditional symbols.

Thousands of Bangladeshi dressed in their traditional outfit on April 14, 2014 - turned out on the streets to usher in the 'Pahela Baisakh' or the Bengali New Year. Cultural groups staged concerts, sang classical, spiritual, and folk songs using traditional instruments such as 'Dhols' and 'Flutes' to mark the New Year 1421. The Ramna Batamul park here drew the largest crowd as leading cultural group 'Chhayanat' performed Rabindranath Tagore's song 'Esho he Baisakh'.

True to the centuries-old tradition, people from all walks of life gathered at different popular and historic spots in the capital and elsewhere across the country to hail the Bangla New Year 1421 with new hopes and aspirations for a better, peaceful year. The celebration of Pahela Baishakh has become an integral part of Bangali culture since it began over six centuries back.

শিক্ষা সংক্রান্ত খবরাখবর নিয়মিত পেতে রেজিস্ট্রেশন করুন অথবা Log In করুন।

Account BenefitThe same jubilation mood is also there in West Bengal and other Bangla-speaking parts of India as they also celebrate the Pahela Baishakh, but they do it a day later. Mughal Emperor Akbar introduced the Bangla calendar in the 1556 of the Gregorian calendar in a bid to streamline the timing of land tax collection in the then 'Subah Bangla' region, the much of which falls under Bangladesh.

The day was a public holiday. On the occasion, President Abdul Hamid, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia issued separate messages conveying their New Year greetings to the people of the country and all Bangla-speaking people across the globe.

President Abdul Hamid, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, leader of the parliamentary opposition Jatiya Party Raushan Ershad, Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) chief and former premier Khaleda Zia besides former president and Jatiya Party chief HM Ershad greeted people on the occasion.