Pahela Baishakh 1412 (Bengali New Year, 14 April 2005)
Pahela Baisakh is the largest and the most popular annual festival in Bangladesh, held in the middle of April. It marks the beginning of the Bengali New Year and celebrated all over the country with colours, costumes, crafts, music and traditional food. In Dhaka City, the centre of the festival is Ramna Park and the Dhaka University area.
From early morning, people from all walks of life and wearing traditional clothing start to converge into the area from all directions. It is a happy and fun-loving occasion. During the day, people are seen enjoying singing, socialising, eating traditional food, face-painting, dancing and singing.
Historically, the Bengali calendar was established by the Moghul Emperor Akbar in 1584 AD on the solar cycle and made the same as the Islamic year 963 AH. The first of Muharram in 963 AH in the Islamic calendar was made the first day of the month of Baisakh 963 in Bengali calendar. But from then on, the two calendars have diverted as the Islamic calendar is based on the lunar year while the Bengali year follows the solar cycle. On average, the lunar year is ten days shorter.
