A popular Festival in Bangladesh: Pohela Baishakh

Bangladesh is very much cultural like the people of India. Like all other nations, Bangladesh has some unique cultural festivals.
The first day of the Bengali calendar, i.e., the Pohela Baishakh is a day of joy and It is observed with great fest celebration for the people here.

The whole Bangladesh then wears a festive mood, and enjoys the pleasures of festivity,
and sometimes it's sorrows.

Bangla new year is traditionally a big occasion for us. This day is a government holiday. All types of economic activities stop, and the people become busy
for celebrating the day. They welcome the day with a popular song—"Esho Hey Baishakh, Esho Esho". Each and every individual starts the day with wishing happy new year
to his relatives, friends, and well-wishers. They never forget to have sweetmeat and offer it to guests on the day. Business firms and shops also wish their valued customers a happy new year with sweetmeats. Sweet words and sweetmeats make the day really sweet.

All types of people-men, women, and children come to the fair
and enjoy themselves. People rush to buy foods and other things, and the place becomes crowded. Book exhibitions and dress exhibitions are also held and enhance
the beauty and joy of this big occasion.

Halkhata is the common practice which starts from the very first day of the new year. Though this practice is on the wane day by day, a good number of traders still pursue this with great enthusiasm. They put away old records of transactions, and start their business with keeping records afresh.
Pohela Baishakh is indeed a significant day in Bengali life. It comes to drive away old pangs and pains, and go ahead with new hope.
It gives people special strength to forget the previous failure and make them dream for the best in future.

But we should be careful about the risks of carrying things too far. Almost every year some unpleasant and unfortunate incidents take place on this day.
The incidents center around women. They are often subjugated to sexual harassment, rough handling of men and even rape by the debauched young men.
That's a shame for our nation and national culture. Again, in the name of Pohela Baishakh some foreign cultures are being imported which are distorting and vitiating our traditional cultures of Bangladesh. Pohela Baishakh should be observed in order to preserve and strengthen our -Bangladeshi culture.
But anything which is in conflict with any religion in Bangladesh should be avoided. We should also prevent the introduction into our culture anything that smacks
of foreigners.

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