People have been joining the celebrations of Pohela Falgun, a festival welcoming the advent of spring, to leave a message to all that love, affection, respect and commitment should be cornerstones of removing all ills and building Bangladesh.
The capital Dhaka and other major cities of the country are ablaze on Friday with mirth and merriment as curious youngsters wear yellow and red dresses, flower-made ornaments and attend traditional musical functions, reports BSS.
Bangalis mark the spring festival on the first day of Bangla month of Falgun. It is also called Boshonto Uthshob. It usually falls on Feb 13 but this year it coincided with Valentine’s Day, on Feb 14, which has also become a major day of celebration to the festival-loving Bangalis, especially the youths.
Recently Bangla Academy revised the Bangla calendar to match it with the Gregorian calendar, aimed at observing the significant days in line with the historic background.
From now on, the first six months of the Bangla year will have 31 days, and the last six months of the year will have a length of 30 days, except for the month Falgun. In that way, Pohela Falgun coincided with Valentine’s Day this year.
Bangladesh’s business community is not happy with the Bangla Academy’s move as they think coincidence of the festivals on the same day is cutting their profit.
Many youths also did not welcome the Bangla Academy’s decision as they think each calendar could have some unique characteristics, and there is no need to make changes.
Though Pohela Falgun is being celebrated officially on Friday, a large number of people, especially youths, celebrated it on Thursday.
Clad in yellow sarees and panjabis, a huge crowd thronged the Dhaka University campus, which is considered the centre point of the celebration.
Festival loving people in Dhaka are formally celebrating the festival on Friday.
City markets were seen overcrowded with customers buying colourful panjabis and saris and other traditional dresses ahead of the festival.
Newspapers have been also publishing special supplements for the last couple of days carrying the message of the festival.
Thousands of people specially the youths across Bangladesh are welcoming the arrival of spring with attiring colourful “bashonti” (yellow or orange coloured) dresses particularly yellow or red panjabis and saris and presenting flowers to their soul mates as a token of their profound love for each other.
Clad in yellow attires with brunches of flowers in the hair bun and hands, hundreds of young girls and boys are thronging the Bakultala on the premises of Fine Arts Faculty at Dhaka University (DU), the centre point of the festival to celebrate spring, to sing songs, recite poems and dance. Ramna Park, Rabindra Sarobar and Hatirjheel draw a huge crowd on that day.
The entire DU campus including Teacher-Student 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 program of the day for around two decades. The platform is arranging different programs including rendering songs and recitation of poems except regular programs.
The month-long Amar Ekushey Book Fair is expected to draw a huge crowd as the book-loving people would love to visit the fair on the very special day with their friends and family members.
As spring has arrived with blossom of flowers and new leaves in trees, nature is getting fresher and colorful shape that touch hearts 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.
