Pohelā Boiśākh is the first day of the month of Boiśākh and the start of the Bengali solar year, kept in West Bengal and Bangladesh alike. It follows Caitra Saṅkrānti, once the sun has entered Meṣa. Families begin the year with a morning bath, new clothes and a visit to the temple, and merchants open fresh ledgers in the hope of a prosperous year. For Bengalis on both sides of the border it is a day of sweets, songs and fresh beginnings. How the day is fixed: The day is the first of the solar month Boiśākh, which begins with Meṣa Saṅkrānti, the sun's entry into Aries. The pañjikā fixes it by local sunrise, so the new year dawns after the night of Caitra Saṅkrānti. Two Bengals, two calendars: Bangladesh reformed its civil calendar to fix Boiśākh 1 permanently on 14 April, while West Bengal still follows the traditional pañjikā reckoning. The festival and the saṅkrānti are the same, yet in some years the two Bengals keep the new year a day apart. This year: The 2027 date shown here is worked out from sunrise at the place you chose, so in another city the same day can fall a day earlier or later. Morning of the new year: The day begins with an early bath, new clothes and a bow before the household deity. Elders are greeted for their blessings, and sweets go out to relatives and friends. Hāl Khātā: Traders formally close the old year's ledger and open a fresh red khātā, often first taken to Kālīghāṭ or Dakṣiṇeśvar to be marked with a vermilion svastika, while Gaṇeśa and Lakṣmī are worshipped in the shop. Regular customers are invited in for sweets and a new Bengali calendar, and some settle old dues. The custom is strongest in the old commercial neighbourhoods of Kolkata such as Baḍabāzār. Maṅgal Śobhāyātrā: In Dhaka the new year dawns with Chāyānaṭ's songs under the banyan at Ramna, 'Eso he Boiśākh'. The Maṅgal Śobhāyātrā then sets out from the Faculty of Fine Arts with giant masks, folk motifs and floats. Begun in 1989 by Dhaka University's art students as a quiet act of cultural assertion under military rule, it is now recognised by UNESCO as Intangible Cultural Heritage. Worth remembering: The same season brings other solar new years, such as Pana Saṅkrānti in Odisha, Puthāṇṭu in Tamil Nadu, Viṣu in Kerala and Bisu on the Karnataka coast. Each shares the sun's entry into Meṣa but remains its own festival with its own customs. In West Bengal the day stays largely domestic, centred on the home, the ledger and the shop, while in Bangladesh it spills into the streets with song and procession. Which temple blesses the khātā, which pañjikā the family follows and what is cooked for the midday meal all differ from house to house. Follow the elders of one's own house.
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