Welcome Bengali New Year 1412

04
Cover Story
Welcome elcome Bengali New Year Year
1412
The Bengali Calendar is
literally saturated with
numerous Muslim, Hindu,
Buddhist, Christian and
other religious and tribal
community festivals.
Baishakh and Joishtho, the first
two months of the Bangla year,
comprise the season of "Grishsho"
or summer. The first day
of Baishakh not only heralds a
new year, but also the six seasons
along with it.
In Bangladesh Baishakh is
symbolised by Krishnachura,
red coloured flower shrubs,
true to the imagery of heat in
summer and the delectability of
the rains that follow.
We wish you well and hope
that you enjoy the best of what
this life has to offer. Rejoice
with friends and foes.
"Shubho Nababarsha” (Happy
New Year).
Tracing back
the celebration
THE first day of the Bengali
calender-year is celebrated as
the New Year in Bangladesh.
As Enamul Huq has written:
"The first day of the festivities
performed to mark the commencement
of the New Year is
actually a specific festival day."
One such day is the Bengali
New Year. Its main characteristic
is that it is not a festival of
the Hindus or the Buddhists
alone. It is universal in nature.
In fact, festivals not related to
faith but secular in character
are rare in the world. Enamul
Huq visualizes this universality
in the collected prayer for rain
when men and women long for
the clouds during the hot
Bengali calender-year (corresponding
to Mid-April to Mid-
May). He writes-"Praying to the
clouds for water is another
popular ritual of the Bengali
New Year."
Another aspect needs special
mention. The majority of the
Bangladesh population is
Muslims. But their new year
does not commence from the
Ashura and nor is it sorrowful.
In this respect, too, the celebration
of the New Year in
Bangladesh is quite unique.
The history of the Bengali New
Year is not very old.
Most probably the celebration
of the Bengali New Year is
connected with the Bengali
year. In Bengal, Emperor Akbar
started the Bengali calenderyear
on 10 March, 1585, but it
became effective from 16
March, 1586 the day of his
ascension to the throne. The
basis of the Bengali year is the
Hejiri lunar year (Muslim era
counted from the year of
Muhammad's (SM) going to
Medina in 622 AD and the
Bengali solar year. The Bengali
year was accepted even at the
grassroot level. 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 midmarch
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 man still
refers to the Bengali calender
of his day to day activiites and
the city-dwellers to the Juliun
calender. In this context,
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 socity."
The New Year begins in different
seasons in different countries
of the world. The Bengali
New Year is in summer.
Summer is not a pleasant time
in Bangladesh. Festivals and
merriments are not as much
possible in summer as during
the beginning of winter or
spring. Many people believe
that the Bengali New Year
should have begun in the
month of Agrahayan (the
eighth month of the Bengali
year and corresponds to Mid-
November to Mid-December)
even considering from the point
of agriculture as Agrahayan is,
for instance, the month of reaping.
Yet New Year is celebrated
in Baisakh. Pallab Sengupta
writes: "The New Year is calculated
either from Hemanta or
late autumn (between autumn
and winter) or spring, that is
from the time when new crops,
flowers and fruits start growing.
This, at least, was the custom
initially. Later, with the passage
of time, it shifted to other seasons
due to practical necessities.
The custom of beginning
the year from January 1 or
Baisakh 1 is thus quite foolish."
But that mystery has not been
unravelled. As Bangladesh is
located in the tropics the importance
of summer in this region
is natural. Moreover, the drying
up of the canals, rivers and
streams at that time and the
acute crisis for water makes
the tremendous changes in
season easily felt. And then
comes the Nor'westers like wild
buffaloes throwing everything
in complete disorder. The rains
start immediately lowering the
temperature and making the
Cover Story
conditions favourable for
ploughing.
In any country the principal festival
has been organised with
respect to the particular season
which has gained importance
there. Moreover, the minor
seasonal festivals are also regularly
held. Bengal has a
unique position in this regard. It
is clear that its main seasonal
festival was in summer. Just as
elsewhere in the world, the
main seasonal festival has
been considered as the New
Year festival, the main summer
festival of our country is likewise
considered as the New
Year festival. One feels that the
devastating form of nature and
the consequent creativity of
nature that one witnesses in
Bangladesh, must have made
summer and the summer festivals
so important in our ancient
culture. Otherwise the New
Year celebration and festival of
Bangladesh would have been
greatly influenced by religion.
Our country is largely inhabited
by the Hindus, Buddhists,
Muslims and Christians but "no
particular influence of these
religions are observed in our
New Year celebrations and festival."
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Cover Story
During the last four hundred
years, that is after the introduction
of the Bengali Year by
Akbar, many festivals connected
probably with agriculture
and seasons have become
associated with it. And the first
of Baisakh gradully changed in
this way to become the New
Year. To the special features of
the Bengali New Year that
Enamul Huq has mentioned,
we can add here that the
Bengali New Year saw the
addition of a new political
dimension from the 60's of the
present century. No season in
any other country has such a
political aspect.
In Bangladesh many secondary
matters are linked with the
New Year. Some of those have
become obsolete while some
still exist in certain special
regions only.
However, the practice of opening
fresh account-book is still in
practice specially among the
business class. On New Year's
day the businessmen complete
the accounts of the past year.
For this purpose many use a
special type of ledger book
bound in red-cloth called the
Khero Khata. The customers
are greeted with sweets
(Mishti) on that day. Also,
many urbanites of Dhaka buy
sweets and have good food on
the occasion of the New Year.
The most important function of
Baisakh and the first day of
Baisakh is the fair (Mela). 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. According to a survey,
about two hundred fairs are
organised throughout
Bangladesh on the first day
and the first week of Baisakh.
It has already been mentioned
before that in Bangladesh celebration
of the first day of
Baisakh began as a part of the
cultural movement and it
added a new dimension to the
political movements. During the
regime of Ayub Khan in the
late sixties, when attack was
made against Rabindra
Sangeet (Tagore Song) and
the Bengali culture, the
Chhayanat group organised a
programme of
Rabindrasangeet on the first of
Baisakh under the banyan tree
at Ramna to celebrate the New
Year. It was a protest against
religious fundamentalism. This
endeavour by Chhayanat gradually
became popular and in
the perspective of the freedom
movement the Bengali New
Year was celebrated in a grand
way as a protest against the
ideology of the ruling class.
After the independence of
Bangladesh, the Bengali New
Year was declared as a public
holiday. Thus with the celebration
of the New Year at the
grass-root level was added the
endeavour of the urban people.
We may conclude that the only
secular festival of Bangladesh,
in every sense of the term, is
the Bengali New Year. Its speciality
lies in the fact that in
spite of being the festival of a
country where the majority are
Muslims, it is not melancholic.
Although the state has been
successful in the other areas it
has failed to incorporate the
religious factor in this case.
Moreover, 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.
Daily Star .net 2004