Bengali New Year-Bengali’s non-sectarian and unique festival

Celebrating Bengali New Year on Pahela Boishakh is a unique Bengali festival. Because the origin of most festivals in the world is related to some religion, Bengali New Year has no religious connection. Its connection is mainly around agriculture and tax collection system. Later it was associated with the settlement of trade accounts. Day by day, the Bengali New Year celebration on PahelaBaisakh has become a universal cultural festival. PahelaBaishakh is the festival of life of all the people of Bengal, irrespective of religion and community.

There is no specific history of when the Bengali New Year started. Because no one can tell when the Bengali year started. There are four opinions on this subject based on different evidence. Those identified as the promoters of Bengali year are King Shashanka, Mughal Emperor Akbar, Sultan Hossain Shah, and King Srangsan of Tibet. According to most prominent historians and scholars, Akbar initiates Bengali New Year.

The Bengali New Year celebration is one of the oldest traditions of Bengalis. Bengalis have kept this tradition alive through the PahelaBaishakh festival. The Boishakhi fair turns into a generous meeting place of friendship and harmony where people, regardless of caste, come together. Men and women, children and teenagers all come to the fair. It is also associated with trade and entertainment.

This Bengali festival carries special significance. This tradition of Bengali New Year is directly related to soil and people. The celebration of PahelaBoishakh was initially village-centric. Village fairs, games, and folk songs and dances were the main attractions. Day by day, it spread in urban areas. This non-communal festival bearing the original cultural identity of Bengali has given us unique inspiration in many vital chapters of Bangladesh's political and cultural history.

This cultural festival and spirit have united the Bengalis of this country. In the 1960s, the annual Chhaynat festival under the banyan tree at Ramana inspired various movements and struggles, including the Bengali armed liberation struggle. The culture of Boishakh is closely related to our literature and Bengali culture. Due to its unique anthropological and social characteristics, the Bengali New Year festival is now the festival of Bengali life.

On the morning of PahelaBoishakh, the 'MangalShobhayatra' (Mars Procession) started in front of the fine arts faculty of Dhaka University. In 2016, UNESCO recognized this universal Mars procession as a 'World Cultural Heritage'. People of all classes and professions, regardless of religion, caste, or sex, participate in the Mars procession. Flowers on women's heads, alpana on their faces, flags in men's hands, and arrangements ease our sufferings when they participate in PahelaBaisakh celebrations.

Bengali New Year has become a big festival in recent years. Day by day, its scope and prevalence are increasing. Big business organizations have also started sponsoring it. The current way of celebrating the Bengali New Year began not too long ago. Since 1967 Chhaynat has been organizing the New Year festival under the banyan tree at Ramana, and MangalShobhayatra has been started since 1989. This is how it has grown over the years.

Although the PahelaBaisakh and Bengali New Year celebrations are considered orthodoxrural cultural traditions, they have undergone a new civic transformation in modern times. Many people think that the reason for this is globalization and capitalist society.

Now its celebratory ritual is civil. There is no link with the village even though there is an attempt to bring the rural feeling by eating Pantarice and Hilsa. Villagers eat good food in the New Year. They believe that they can eat good food throughout the year by eating good food on New Year's Day. Instead, the city's New Year celebrations mimic Western New Year celebrations.

Celebrating Bengali New Year or PahelaBoishakh is no longer a regular part of our daily life. Because we are no longer an entirely agrarian society. New Year's celebrations are organized according to the rules of the capitalist system. Sociologists believe there is a continuous effort to sustain Bengali's traditional cultural events despite no conventional Bengali New Year celebration.

When globalization, the free market economy, communal consciousness, continuing influence of global culture etc., threaten the existence of hundreds of nations and cultures of the world, the celebration of Bengali New Year has a special significance. Bangla New Year is Bangladesh's only non-sectarian public festival, in which people of Bengal, regardless of caste, profession, gender, or religion, participate.

From that point of view, Bengali New Year is the national festival of Bangladesh. And that's why during the Pakistani era, Bengali New Year was termed as alien and heathen, and there was an attempt to ban the Bengali New Year festival. But despite hundreds of attempts, they failed. Bengali New Year celebrations became an integral part of our national liberation struggle.

It has now become our national festival. It is a secular festival in Bangladesh. Although our work and social life are governed by the Western calendar throughout the year, at least on this day, we observe the Bengali year regardless of casteand religion. However, the Bengali year is limited to only one day for the middle class, but the Bengali year anddate have not lost their importance to the farmers of Bengal.

Although hybrid seeds have brought about many changes in crop planting and harvesting, Boishakh is no longer the only time for harvesting crops in our country. Yet, the Bengali farmer follows Bengali dates in all their activities. Millions of people dependent on agriculture have kept the Bengali year alive. But since the urban educated middle class is going through a type of crisis, they are still unsure what to accept and reject.

The new wealthy class forgot the original tradition and started celebrating Bengali New Year in English New Year style under the pressure of corporate culture.How they celebrate New Year has nothing to do with Bengali New Year.PahelaBaisakh is not celebrated in rural areas by eating Panta rice and Hilsa fish. Instead, everyone tries to eat good food that day. And the day of PahelaBoishakh starts with a bit of sweet food. Then the fair is held. Which is closely related to the tradition of PahelaBoishakh. Fairs are held in village markets, fields or suburban playgrounds. Different cultural festivals are celebrated.

PahelaBoishakh is a non-sectarian and unique Bengali festival representing our unity. On this day, everyone bursts into overwhelming joy. Expresses determination to move forward by shedding the old. There is no such pure festival in the world. It is hoped that Bengali's cultural awakening will be accelerated by celebrating the Bengali New Year after overcoming the long-standing corona pandemic and the fear of war. Happy Bengali New Year 1430 to all.

The writer is a researcher and development worker.