Pohela Boishakh

About Pohela Boishakh

Pohela Boishakh opens the Bangla year, and it belongs to everyone in Bangladesh regardless of faith. It is a day for welcoming the new year with music, colour and food rather than with any religious rite, which is why it is often described as the most widely shared festival in the country. Villages and cities alike mark it, and Bangladeshis abroad hold their own gatherings on the same day.

The Bangla calendar is usually traced to the Mughal period, when a solar year tied to the harvest made it easier to collect land revenue after the crops came in. Over the centuries the start of the year became a moment for traders to settle accounts and for farmers to celebrate. Bangla Academy later revised the calendar for use in Bangladesh, giving the months fixed lengths, so 1 Boishakh now falls on 14 April every year. The date does not move and there is no moon sighting involved, which makes planning simple.

In West Bengal and some other places the old calendar is still followed, so the new year there can come a day later. In Bangladesh the official date is 14 April, and the government observes it as a public holiday.

How it is celebrated

The day starts early. In Dhaka, Chhayanaut's musicians greet the first sunrise of the year with songs under the banyan tree at Ramna Park, and from mid-morning the procession organised by the Faculty of Fine Arts at Dhaka University (long known as the Mangal Shobhajatra, and recognised by UNESCO as intangible cultural heritage) fills the streets with giant painted birds, animals and masks. Towns across the country hold their own rallies, and Boishakhi melas sell toys, sweets, bangles and clay crafts.

People dress in red and white: women in white saris with red borders and flowers in their hair, men in panjabis, and children in small versions of both. Many families eat panta bhat (soaked rice) with fried fish, mashed vegetables and green chillies, though more people now choose other fish than hilsa to protect stocks in the breeding season. Shopkeepers open a new ledger, the halkhata, and offer sweets to customers who come to settle their dues.

What people buy

1. Saris and salwar kameez

   Red-and-white or white-with-red-border saris are the classic choice, often in cotton or handloom because mid-April is hot. Block-printed and hand-painted designs sell quickly in the weeks before.

2. Panjabis and fotuas

   Men usually buy a cotton panjabi or a shorter fotua in red, white or with Boishakhi motifs. Matching family sets are popular for photographs.

3. Children's festive wear

   Small saris, frocks and panjabis for children are among the busiest categories. Buy a size up if you want it to fit next year too.

4. Flower crowns and hair accessories

   Fresh or artificial flower crowns, bangles and hair clips complete the look. Artificial ones last beyond the day and can be ordered in advance.

5. Clay and kitchenware

   Earthen plates, bowls and pots are used for serving panta and bhorta on the day. Some families also buy new cookware to start the year fresh.

6. Handicrafts and decor

   Painted masks, nakshi kantha pieces, hand fans and small wooden toys echo the fair stalls and make good decorations at home or in the office.

Gift ideas

1. A handloom sari or panjabi

   Clothing in the festival colours is the most common New Year gift for parents, partners and close friends.

2. Sweets

   A box of mishti is a natural way to wish someone shubho noboborsho, and shops often see their biggest orders of the spring.

3. Folk craft

   Terracotta, nakshi kantha or a painted wooden figure makes a lasting gift with a Bangla flavour.

4. Bangla books

   A collection of poems or songs by Rabindranath Tagore or Kazi Nazrul Islam suits a day so tied to music and literature.

Shopping tips

Start looking about three weeks ahead. Popular sari prints and children's sizes sell out in the last week, and tailors stop taking new orders well before the day. Couriers also slow down in the final days because so many parcels are moving across the country at once, so aim to have everything ordered by early April.

On Midmart every shop sells and delivers on its own. If your outfit comes from one shop and the flower crown from another, you will receive two parcels and pay two delivery charges. Midmart never takes payment or handles delivery: each seller tells you how to pay and how they will send the order, so check that with the seller before you confirm, especially if you need it before 14 April.

Shop for Pohela Boishakh

• boishakhi saree
• panjabi
• kids boishakhi dress
• clay pottery
• flower crown
• handicraft
• hand fan

Pohela Boishakh dates

Dates marked “expected” depend on the moon sighting or the official calendar and are confirmed close to the day.

Questions about Pohela Boishakh

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