Pohela Boishak 2020

Bengali New Year, also known as ‘Pohela Boishakh’ is the first day in the Bengali calendar. Poila means ‘first’ and Boishakh is first month of the Bengali calendar. As Bengali New Year is based on a solar calendar it occurs on 14 April in the Gregorian calendar each year. We celebrate 14April as a national holiday in Bangladesh, and on 14 or 15 April in the Indian states of West Bengal, Odisha, Tripura and part of Assam by people of Bengali heritage, irrespective of their religious faith. The same day is observed elsewhere as the traditional solar new year and a harvest festival by Hindus and Sikhs, and is known by other names such as Vaisakhi in central and north India, Vishu in Kerala and Puthandu in Tamil Nadu.   Traditions of Bengali new Year Mughal Emperor Akbar introduced the Bengali calendar in 1556 (Gregorian calendar) to make the collection of land tax easier .Now the traditional greeting for Bengali New Year is ‘Shubho Nabobarsho’ which means ‘Happy Ne...