Happy Bangla New Year

Happy Bangla New Year!

We, Bangladeshis, celebrate the Bangla New Year on the 14th of April.

Mughal (or Mongol) Emperor Jalaluddin Muhammad Akbar replaced the lunar Hijri Calendar because it did not agree with  harvest sessions and eventually the farmers were forced to pay taxes out of season.

In the new calendar, all taxes, payments and dues to landlords and the emperor were settled on the last day of the year. The next day, Landlords would arrange great feasts and distribute sweets among his subjects, businessmen would open a new ‘Halkhata’ (annual financial records). It gradually grew into a time-honored tradition. The first day of the Bengali year also coincides with the mid-April new year in Assam, Myanmar, Cambodia, Kerala, Manipur, Nepal, Odisha, Sri Lanka, Tamil Nadu and Thailand (Sonkran).

I hope you, too, can come join our celebration some day. Shubho (auspicious) Nobo (new) Borsho (year) to you!

Main thoroughfare painted in traditional motifs

Marching bands throng streets in the capital Dhaka

Hand-fabricated and operated Nagordola (Ferris Wheel)

The traditional Mongol Shobhajatra (Auspicious Procession)

Installations by the students of the Fine Arts Institute

Traditional platter of leftover rice soaked in water, Hilsa fish and mashed potatoes

Mongol Shobhajatra (The Auspicious Procession)