Not great for calories but works wonders for the soul! Ganesh Puja and Haal Khaata on Poila Baishakh And also countless sweets at all times during the day.ĭo note, if you visit a Bengali friend in this season, you would be served a number of sweets such as sandesh, roshogolla and chomchom. Mishti doi (Bengali sweet yoghurt) was for dessert. Raw-mango or aam-pora sherbet was the beverage of the day. What is a festival without a feast? We had multi-course meals with luchi, chholar dal, polao, fish and mangsho or red meat curry followed by the palette cleanser chutney. The crowd kept changing and passersby would also join, greet people around them, sing along and take pictures. Some people also recited poetry by Rabindranath Tagore and other Bengali poets while others listened. It was more like the folk dances we saw at Khoaier Haat in Shantiniketan. People standing around would join in and some would form a circle and do a dance that is very different from what we see at a party in Delhi. There was a make shift stage and a trained singer would get up and start a song. Once we walked to the main road, we saw a beautiful procession with colourful tableaus and crafty cut-outs. We could hear the singing from our homes and quickly changed into kurta-pajama so as to fit in. Like anything Bengali, the day was celebrated with songs, dance and alpona art right in the middle of a busy road. One look around and bright faces in new clothes set the mood of the day. Little boys and girls wore simple clothes although some little missies looked special in their mini-saris. Women looked stately in handloom cotton saris and big bindis. Men were dressed in khadi or cotton payjama-panjabi (kurta – pajama). On the morning of Poila Baiskah, we found people dressed in crisp clothes pottering around with boxes and handis (pots) of sweets. They keep the elaborate shopping for Durga Puja. People buy basic garments such as home wear during Poila Baisakh, perhaps in view of the hot and humid weather after this festival. Poila Baishakh, being the New Year, is the forerunner. It appears that people shop and gift new clothes before almost every festival in West Bengal. We took some photos, videos and notes for creating this post. Although it was the beginning of summer, people did not mind the sweat and were out on the street in celebration.
We happened to be in Kolkata on Naboborsho, or Poila Boisakh and spent the day amidst music, dance, new clothes and a lot of food. But that does not deter the Bengalis from having a gala celebration every year. They came up with the solar calendar or “Bangabdo” (Bengali era) with Poila Baisakh as the first day.Īnother school of thought says that to advance Akbar’s secular philosophy of Din-i-Illahi, he created the Bengali New Year “Bangabdo” that is a fusion of the Islamic lunar calendar and the Hindu solar calendar.
To bring the calendar in parity with Bengal’s harvesting season, when people would have the means to pay taxes, he engaged astronomers. Akbar was facing difficulties in collecting taxes as per the lunar Islamic Hijri calendar.
Legend has it that the Bengali New Year was started under Emperor Akbar’s reign. We happen to be in Kolkata a year back and enjoyed the festivities first hand.ĥ What is the current Bengali year? Who started Poila Baisakh concept? The year starts on the first day of the month of Baisakh and hence the festival is also called Poila Baisakh (Poila means first). One day after Vaisakhi, Bengalis celebrate Nababarsho or the Bengali New Year. Vaisakhi falls on 13th or 14th April of the Gregorian calendar every year. The distinctiveness of the regional New Year festivals is that people of the state partake in the festivities irrespective of their religion. Each celebration has its unique character. It is Vaisakhi in Punjab, Ugadi in Andhra Pradesh, Bohag Bihu in Assam, Puthandu in Tamil Nadu, Vishu in Kerala. Many of the regional years commence in the second week of April. You travel around in India and you realise that there is just so much you don’t know about the country.įor example, India celebrates multiple New Years across various states of the country. What is an example of cultural tourism? The answer my friend is India.
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