By Khandaker Apon Hossain
In the gentle breeze of spring, a new scent fills the air. The soft fragrance of mango blossoms. The cooing of the cuckoo bird. Nature adorns itself with new leaves and flowers. In the cycle of time, the Bengali people’s heartwarming festival begins-Pohela Boishakh, the Bengali New Year. Ancient civilizations tried to capture time in calendars. The Bengali calendar is such an effort, deeply connected not just with the days, months, and years, but with the entire life cycle of the Bengali people. Created for the convenience of tax collection by Mughal Emperor Akbar, this solar calendar has now become an integral part of Bengali culture.
The Bengali calendar began after Emperor Akbar ascended the throne. Before that, the Hijri calendar was in use, which did not align with the agricultural seasons. Therefore, in 1584, upon the order of Emperor Akbar, renowned astronomer Fatehullah Shirazi developed the Bengali calendar. Initially known as “Tarikh-e-Elahi,” it later came to be recognized as the Bengali calendar or Bangabdo.
The calculation of the calendar is a precise play of time. The Earth revolves around the sun, taking 365 days, with a few extra hours, minutes, and seconds. To account for this extra time, the Gregorian calendar introduced the leap year concept. However, the Bengali calendar did not initially have such a system. In 1966, the Bengali Academy formed a committee under the leadership of Dr. Muhammad Shahidullah. Based on their recommendations, from 1988, Pohela Boishakh started being celebrated on April 14th.
Initially, the months were named in Persian-Farvardin, Khordad, Tishrin-but these names did not resonate with the Bengali people. A change occurred. New names were borrowed from the stars-Boishakh, Jaishtho, Ashar, and so on. The year 963 Hijri was chosen as the first year of the Bengali calendar, coinciding with the 29th year of Emperor Akbar’s reign. Thus, history, culture, and astronomy shaped the Bengali calendar.
Over time, Pohela Boishakh has become the heartwarming festival of the Bengali people. In 1608, Islam Khan Chishti declared Dhaka the capital. That year also marked the beginning of the Pohela Boishakh celebrations. The landlords would call their tenants for tax collection, and the tenants would come in new clothes. The landlord’s house would be filled with celebrations, laughter, and joy. Cow fights, kabaddi, and the distribution of sweets were the customs of the time. As time passed, the nature of the celebrations changed, but the essence remained the same.
The modern celebration of Pohela Boishakh began in 1917 but gained widespread popularity in the 1960s. In protest against the ban on Rabindra Sangeet by the Pakistani government, the cultural organization Shayanat came forward. In 1965, they sang “Asho Hey Boishakh” at Ramna Batamul, using Rabindranath’s music to voice the resistance and identity of the Bengali people. Since then, Ramna Batamul has become the heart of New Year celebrations. After independence, the festival gained a new meaning.
In 1972, it became a national celebration, and in 1989, the Charukala’s Mangal Shobhajatra was added to the festivities. The celebration has since blended in color, sound, and shape, resonating deeply with the Bengali spirit.
In the slow advance of corporate culture worldwide, regional voices, tastes, and beauty are slowly fading. During this time, Bangladesh has made a magnificent comeback on the global stage with the revival of its thousand-year-old folk culture. The celebration of the Bengali New Year is a magnificent cultural portrait of time’s passing. In 2016, UNESCO declared it as “Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity,” honoring the Bengali nation. The declaration highlighted that the festival celebrates peace, tolerance, and diversity, positioning it as a unique example of cultural diplomacy. Just as India has Holi, Japan has Obon, and Mexico has the Day of the Dead, Bengali Boishakh stands out. It is secular, humane, and a symbol of unity.
UNESCO’s recognition is the sunrise of the Bengali cultural image and the awakening of national consciousness. In this cultural awakening, the heart of the Bengali people beats with a melody of freedom, harmonious transformation, radiant illumination, and national emergence. The folk traditions etched in the deepest layers of the Bengali psyche come alive through the New Year celebrations. Rangoli-painted aspirations, the culinary art of Panta-Ilish, and the symbolic depictions of the Mangal Shobhajatra form a collective soul of the masses. As French anthropologist Claude Lévi-Strauss said, “Culture is the software of the mind,” and the Bengali New Year is a timeless installation in that cultural software.
Pop culture from the United States, K-pop from Korea, or Japan’s techno-folk may dominate the global cultural stage, but Bengali New Year shows that, even beneath global brands, indigenous cultures rise up. American conservative scholar Roger Scruton once said, “To destroy a people, you must first sever their roots.” Pohela Boishakh stands as a sacred response to this attempt at cultural obliteration, reaffirming the Bengali people’s deep-rooted cultural identity. The impact of New Year’s celebrations on art is immense. The colors in the paintings of artist Zainul Abedin bring out the national identity. In the words of artist Kazi Giyasuddin, “The colors of the New Year are the only fundamental palette of the Bengali soul.”
This is a fusion of imagery, melody, rhythm, and consciousness. The Pohela Boishakh celebration teaches us that moving beyond the shadow of the old is the name of renewal and cultural revolution, where festivals are not just about amusement but a classical struggle for redefinition. As the famous philosopher Edward Said said, “Cultural identity is a matter of becoming as well as being.” Boishakh is the epic of that becoming. Just as the Bengali New Year celebration has become a symbol of global recognition through UNESCO, it is also the purest worship of national consciousness-a mark of cultural revolution, where the voice of “I sing in Bengali” is not just an emotion but a historic affirmation of the rebirth of a nation’s identity.
Pohela Boishakh is the reflection of Bengali life, deep emotions, and eternal culture. Over time, the way we celebrate has changed. In the past, people would clean their homes, adorn the courtyards with colorful designs (Alpana), and wear new clothes to mark the beginning of the New Year. While the essence remains the same, the outward expression has evolved with modernity.
The celebration is no longer limited to the physical realm; it has made its spontaneous presence on digital platforms as well. Social media is filled with pictures, greetings, memories, and cultural expressions. This celebration represents both a connection with the times and a longing to return to roots. The Bengali calendar is not just a possession of a specific region. It is an emblem of the entire Bengali identity.
Whether in Bangladesh, West Bengal, or anywhere in the world where Bengalis reside, they cherish the first day of the Bengali year with all their hearts. It is a definitive document of Bengali identity, a vivid expression of cultural heritage. The Bengali calendar is closely linked to nature. Just as the seasons change, there is diversity in the Bengali months, each reflecting nature’s rhythms.
The intensity of Boishakh, the monsoon rains of Ashar, the purity of autumn, or the golden wealth of Hemanta-all these make the Bengali calendar a living cycle of time. Through it, people become deeply familiar with the seasonal cycles and learn to appreciate the beauty of time. The Bengali calendar teaches the importance of time, reminding us to celebrate the present while remembering the glory of the past and preparing for the future. It teaches us how to bid farewell to past sorrows and failures and move toward a horizon of hope. Around this day, there is an aspiration for self-purification and a resolve to awaken anew.
The celebration of Pohela Boishakh carries the lesson of tolerance. By embracing the summer heat, the Bengali people learn that adversity is part of life and must be accepted in order to move forward. This perspective makes the celebration of Pohela Boishakh an internal festival of the soul, transcending mere external merriment. The Bengali calendar is still a subject of significant research, with scholars studying its origin, calculation methods, and social and cultural impacts.
In fact, the celebration of Pohela Boishakh is an inevitable part of our journey forward. It is a reliable symbol of our identity, an ever-present sign of cultural resilience. Pohela Boishakh proves that culture never perishes. Its form changes with time, but its essence remains indestructible. Thus, the celebration of Pohela Boishakh becomes a festival of the soul’s illumination-a day created by the fusion of history, tradition, emotion, and consciousness. It carries the message of true renaissance for the Bengali people. Our roots, our identity, and our proud self-confidence are what make this celebration timeless.
Pohela Boishakh brings completeness in the midst of emptiness. It is a commitment to our educational and cultural enrichment that is reverently celebrated on the first day of the year. However, in recent times, the history and culture of Bengal are not given priority in the English-medium textbooks, which distances us from our aesthetic consciousness. The dominance of pizza and burgers seems to be pushing us away from our sense of identity. Despite all this, when Pohela Boishakh comes, all confusion disappears. An irresistible pull blends into the hearts of Bengalis. It brings the memories of great pride.
The celebration of the new year gives us the strength of self-identity. It reconnects us with our roots. The life force we once received from the soil of the past should become an eternal inspiration for future generations. May Bengali culture triumph worldwide with its originality and uniqueness. Let the ideals of unity, nonviolence, and peace of the Bengali nation create a ripple effect at every corner. May the celebration of Bengali New Year be placed at the top worldwide.
Khandaker Apon Hossain is a Teacher, Cantonment Board High School, Shahid Salahuddin Cantonment, Ghatail, Tangail. He can be reached at email: khandaker.apon@gmail.com