Pahela Falgun, a festival welcoming the advent of spring, has been celebrating across the country especially in the capital on Wednesday (Feb 13) with wearing yellow dresses, flower-made ornaments and holding traditional musical functions.
Bangalees mark the spring festival on the first day of Bengali month of Falgun. It is also called Basanta Utsab.
Festival loving people in Dhaka have welcomed the advent of spring in a befitting manner. City markets have been seen overcrowded with purchasers buying colourful panjabees and sharees and other traditional dresses to celebrate the festival.
Different brands of garment products, shoes and ornaments are also giving special offer for customers on the eve of the festival. Newspapers have published special supplements carrying the message of the festival.
Thousands of people specially the youths across the country have welcomed the arrival of spring with attiring colourful “bashonti” (yellow or orange colored) dresses particularly yellow or red panjabees and sharees and presenting flowers to their soul mates as a token of their profound love bringing joys in life.
Clad in yellow attires with brunches of flowers in the hair bun and hands, hundreds of young girls and boys have thronged the Bakultala on the premises of Fine Arts Faculty at Dhaka University (DU), the centre point of the festival celebrating spring, singing songs, reciting poems and dancing. Ramna Park, Rabindra Sarobar and Hatirjheel draws a huge crowd on that day.
The entire DU campus including Teachers-Students Centre (TSC), Arts Faculty, Curzon Hall, University Mall (Mall Chattar) and the compound of Amar Ekeushy Granthamela turns into the best place to hang out with friends, family members and beloved ones on the day.
Jatiya Boshonto Utshab Udjapan Parishad has been arranging the main programme of the day for around two decades. The parishad has arranged different programmes including rendering songs and recitation of poems except regular programmes.
The month-long Amar Ekushey Book Fair is drawing a huge crowd as the book-loving people will throng the fair on the very special day with their friends and family members.
Since morning, Suhrawardy Udyan, Ramna Park, Dhanmondi Lake, Rabindra Sarabar and other amusement places and recreation centers have seen a rush of festival loving people.
As spring has arrived with blossom of flowers and new leaves in trees, nature is getting fresh and colorful shape that touches heart and minds of all ages of people.
The spring has been depicted as the king of all seasons in poetry for its extra-ordinary beauty of nature. After the dryness of winter, new leaves start to come out again and the nature adorns the branches with new colourful flowers like Shimul, Polash and Marigold denoting the message of arrival of spring. In nature, it is considered that “Krishnachura” flower brings the message of arrival of spring.
“O Wind, If Winter comes, can spring be far behind?” English romantic poet Percy Bysshe Shelley described the arrival of spring in his famous poem ‘Ode to the West Wind’.
In his another poem he wrote: “And the spring arose on the garden fair/Like the Spirit of Love felt everywhere, And each flower and herb on Earth’s dark breast/Rose from the dreams of its wintry rest”.
Everything in nature gives an impression of youthfulness or freshness as if the nature takes a new birth. Colourful flowers, melody of birds or mild touch of the sunshine – everything will make you feel that springtime is the nature’s festival.
The festival-loving people in the country welcome and celebrate the day with great joys and love and in a colourful manner. The blazing red and yellow are the representative colours of Pohela Falgun as Bangalees embellish themselves with these two (yellow or red) primary colours to welcome the arrival of spring.
