Bengali New Year (Pôhela Boishakh) 2022 in India
The New Year of the Bengali is known as Pôhela Boishakh or Pohela Boishakh in Bengali. The name means ‘New Year’. The New Year celebration for the Bengali people is a big affair. The Bengali people all over the world observe this festival with much enthusiasm and joy. The Bengali New Year is celebrated on the first day of the month of ‘January’ according to the Bengali calendar.
On this day, the Bengali people clean their houses, wear new clothes and decorate their windows with new coloured scarves. The Bengali New Year is a day of festivity, merriment and fun. The New Year is also an important day in the Bengali calendar. It marks the start of a new agricultural cycle and is also a day when the Bengali people take stock of the past year and plan for the future.
The celebration of the Bengali New Year is an age-old tradition that is observed in various forms in different parts of Bengal. The New Year is marked in many ways. In the villages, farmers and cattle herders celebrate with jubilation and dance for hours. In the towns, new clothes and sweets are exchanged as a token of good wishes. At home, the family members prepare sweetmeats and prasanta to welcome the New Year.
The year 2022 is a year of great significance for West Bengal. Pôhela Boishakh, or the Bengali New Year, is celebrated in the eastern state on the first full moon of the spring season. In West Bengal, the new year is celebrated with great fervour and merriment. The celebrations begin two days before Pôhela Boishakh. On the day of the new year, ‘Pôhela’ means ‘new’ in Bengali, while ‘Boisach’ means ‘full moon’ in French. Hence, it is also known as the New Moon Festival.
The festival is celebrated in the eastern state of West Bengal and adjoining states of Assam, Tripura, Odisha and Bangladesh. In the eastern states, Pôhela Boishakh is celebrated as the Keshab Pujo (কেশবপূজ) or the Festival of the New Harvest.
In Assam, this festival is celebrated as the Moirang Pôjol (মহরঙ্গ পূজো), which means New Planting Festival. In Tripura, this festival is celebrated as the Rojhindi Pujo or the New Year’s Festival. The Bengali New Year marks the end of the old year and the beginning.
