- 14 or 15 April
- Bengali new year
- Bangladesh, West Bengal, Tripura
- Mangal Shobhajatra in Dhaka
Where it began
Pohela means first, and Boishakh is the first month of the Bengali calendar. The day has long marked the start of the farming and trading year in Bengal.
Many historians link the Bengali calendar to the time of the Mughal emperor Akbar, when the year was set to match the harvest so that land taxes could be collected at a fair time. Others trace its roots to older solar calendars of the region.
Traders began the custom of halkhata, opening a new account book on the first day of the year. Customers were invited to settle old dues and were treated to sweets, a custom many shops still follow.
How it grew over time
Mughal period
The Bengali calendar, by many accounts, is shaped to follow the harvest season for tax collection.
1800s and early 1900s
Halkhata and new year fairs become common in towns and villages across Bengal.
1960s
The cultural group Chhayanaut begins its dawn concert under the banyan tree at Ramna Park in Dhaka.
1989
Students of the Faculty of Fine Arts at Dhaka University begin the colourful new year procession now called Mangal Shobhajatra.
2016
UNESCO adds the Mangal Shobhajatra to its list of the intangible cultural heritage of humanity.
Today
The day is a public holiday in Bangladesh and a big cultural day in West Bengal and Tripura.
How it is celebrated in different places
Dhaka, Bangladesh
The day opens with songs at Ramna, followed by a huge procession with giant masks and painted figures.
Kolkata, West Bengal
People visit Kalighat and Dakshineswar temples, and shops hold halkhata with sweets and calendars.
Tripura and Assam's Barak Valley
Bengali families greet the year with fairs, songs and new clothes.
London and beyond
Bengali communities hold a big street mela in east London, and new year events in Toronto, New York and Sydney.
Pohela Boishakh moments
Pohela Boishakh today
People wear new clothes, often white and red saris and panjabis, and greet each other with Shubho Noboborsho. Children and adults paint their faces and join fairs with folk music and crafts.
Many families start the day with panta bhat, soaked rice, served with fried hilsa fish and chillies, and end it with sweets like rosogolla and sandesh.
