Bangladesh and India's West Bengal celebrate New Year Day Poila Baisakh with fervour
-Dr. Lalit Kishore | 16 Apr 2016
Bangladesh and India's West Bengal and Tripura celebrated their New Year festival 'Poila Baisakh' on April 14 with traditional festivities and exchanging greetings 'Shubho Noboborsho!'. In Bangladesh, the festival was celebrated amid tight security.
Poila stands for 'first' and Boishakh is the first month of the Bengali calendar and the festival was celebrated as "First of Boishakh". The New Year was heralded at dawn marked with singing, processions, and fairs.
Collective singing of songs to welcome the New Year was a common sight. Rabindranath Tagore's well-known song "Esho, he Boishakh" was sung with gusto at most places and well classical jatra plays were held. The day was also marked by visiting relatives, friends and neighbors and partaking special dishes.
In Kolkata, on Poila Boishakh many marriages took place since the day was auspicious for this purpose and cultural programmes got staged.
In Tripura, thousands of Hindu Bengalis have thronged temples for offering prayers on the occasion of their New Year day.
Business community and shopkeepers started the day with a Laxmi-Narayan and Ganesha Puja while closing the old ledgers and starting the new ones and prayed for a prosperous year ahead.
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