April 14,2020

Golam Rabbani

Lecturer, Department of History and Philosophy

School of Humanities and Social Science

North South University

Subject: Submission of Report on “Social festivals”

Dear Sir,

I am delighted to submit the report that you have asked for. This report is an important part of my
course; and I have tried my best to work on it sensibly and sincerely to make the report informative and
also to fulfill all the criteria in the guideline.

This report has given me an exceptional experience that might have immerse uses in the future
endeavors and we sincerely hope that it would be able to fulfill your expectations. This report has taught
me about the social festivals and the importance of these festivals in our country.

I have put my sincere effort to give this report a presentable shape and make it as informative and
precise as possible. I would like to thank you for providing me with this unique opportunity to work on
this report. I would be honored to take any kind of suggestion that you give me for this report.

Sincerely Yours,

Farhana Faruquee
Executive summary

Bangladesh is a country with different religion, culture, tribal groups etc. Every year, we use to celebrate
different occasions related to different seasons, reasons etc. These celebrations make our social bond
strong. In this report, I have tried to discuss about social festivals, which are usually celebrated by all.
People from different religions, races, colors, tribes come together to celebrate every social occasions.
Bangladeshis have some age old tradition to celebration some occasion with different style. Those things
are still continued by the people of the society. Here, in this report, the main focus is to tell about the
social celebrations and the essence of these occasions.
Introduction

Bangladesh is one of the South Asian countries of the world with people from different religions. Also,
there are different tribal groups live at different districts of Bangladesh. As said, different religion’s
people lives here, they celebrate different religious festivals according to their own respective religions.
Except these, they also celebrate different social festivals celebrated across the country. Bangladesh is a
country with many different festivals celebrated by whole population. These festivals are known as
social festivals. There are many national, cultural etc. festivals which are called as social festivals of
Bangladesh.

Background

Celebrating different occasions is not a new thing for the people of Bangladesh. Bangladeshi people
celebrate each and every occasion with the same joy, fun and happiness. People of Bangladesh are
doing this for a very long time. People from different religion live here. They have their own occasions
from their respective religious beliefs such as Muslim population’s biggest celebrations include Eid-ul-
fitr, Eid-ul-azha etc., hindu population’s biggest celebration include Durga Puja, Buddhist community’s
biggest celebration is Buddha Purnima, Christian’s biggest celebration is Christmas etc. Except these
occations, there are some other occasions which are celebrated by people from the whole society.
These celebrations are called as social festivals.
Social festivals

As said earlier, social festivals are celebrated by all from the societies of Bangladesh. Social festivals of
Bangladesh can be divided into 3 main parts.

 National festivals
 Cultural festivals
 others

National festivals

There are different national festivals which are celebrated on different times of the year such as:

International mother language day

Bangladeshis are the only population in the world which has fought for its mother tongue, its own
language. To establish Bangla as their mother language, people lost their lives. To show respect to the
martyrs of this incident, to respect their sacrifices, on 21 st February of each year is celebrated as Martyr
day in Bangladesh. In 1999, UNESCO declared this day as “international mother language day”. Now this
day is celebrated in different countries across the world.

Independence Day

On 26th March of each year is celebrated as the independence day of Bangladesh. On this day of 1971,
the independence of Bangladesh was declared. The nine-month-long liberation war was started officially
from this day.
Martyred intellectual day

The martyred intellectual day is celebrated on 14 th December. At the end of the liberation war, the
Pakistani rulers wanted to make Bangladesh a weak, directionless state of the world.

That’s why, they started killing the talents of Bangladesh which includes the 991 teachers, 49 physicians,
13 journalists, 16 lawyers, 42 writers, artists, engineers etc. On 14 th December, they started kidnapping
these intellectuals from their residences. Pakistani army killed these intellectuals brutally and dumped
their dead bodies on different places including Mirpur, Rayerbazar etc. They succeeded to finish this
incident right after 2 days of the final victory of Bangladesh
Victory day

After a nine-month-long liberation, on 16 th December 1971, the final victory of Bangladesh was
achieved. That’s why, 16th December of each year victory day is celebrate across the country to show
respect to the martyrs who sacrificed their lives for the independence of the country.
Cultural festival

The cultural festivals of Bangladesh are given below:

Pahela Baishakh/ Bangla new year:

The first day of Bangla calendar is celebrated as the Bangla new year. This is called as “Pahela Baishakh”,
as Baishakh is the first month of the Bangla calendar.

The tradition of celebrating Bangla new year has started from the Mughal period. During that period, all
taxes used to be collected, all accounts used to make clear and finished etc. Mughal emperor Akbar
advised to start counting Bangla calendar to ensure that the process of collecting tax go smoothly.

In current time, Pahela Baishakh is a festival for the citizens of Bangladesh. Many programs use to take
place to celebrate this occasion. Institute of fine arts, Dhaka university brings out “Mangal Shovajatra”, a
mass procession every year to welcome Bangla
new year. Chayanat, one of the biggest cultural
organizations of Bangladesh, organizes a cultural
presentation including different songs, poetry
etc. at the Ramna park. Many fairs use to take
place in different places. Different cultural
organizations organize cultural program to
celebrate this day. There is an age old tradition
named “Halkhata” which is done the
businessmen of our country. They complete all of their accounts from old account books, clear them and
start new account book with a hope of happiness, prosper and progress for the new year. They also
invite their customers by sending greeting cards. They also offer sweets, snacks etc. to their customers
when they visits shops and other business institutions on that day. People wear traditional dresses while
visiting different places on that day. Expect these, there are many celebrations take place at different
schools, colleges, universities and other institutions.

Pahela Falgun

Falgun is the 11th month in the Bangla calendar. On the first day of Falgun, the spring season starts in
Bangladesh. After a dry, gloominess of winter, spring brings live, color, light and joy in everyone’s mind.
To welcome the lovely season of spring, Pahela Falgun Is celebrated on the first day of that month.
Many cultural events take place to celebrate this day with joy and fun.

Poush Utshob/Pitha Utshob

In Bangladesh, winter comes for a very short period time. To celebrate winter, Poush utshob is celebrate
all across Bangladesh by different social, cultural and socio-cultural organizations.
There is no specific day to celebrate it. This use to be celebrated throughout the winter. Rice cake or
pitha is one of the main attraction of winter season of our country. There is festivals named “Pitha
Utshob” which use to be celebrated on winter.

Nobanno Utshob

Bangladesh is an agricultural country. Rice is one of our main crop to cultivate. Bangladesh is an
agricultural country. Rice is one of our main crops to cultivate.
During the beginning autumn season, most the paddy/ rice are collected as they are ready to cut during
that season. It turns to be a very happy day for the farmers as all their hard works come true. To
celebrate their happiness and hard work, Nobanno Utshob is celebrated. On the first day of the month
of Agrahayan, 8th month of the Bangla calendar, Nobanno Utshob tends to celebrate. Specially, the
families of the farmers of our country celebrates this festival elaborately. They say thanks to god, makes
pitha(rice cake) with the flour of new rice and do many other things to celebrate.

Chaitra Shankranti

As said earlier, people of Bangladesh celebrate the first day of Bangla new year. People also celebrate
the last day of the year which is called as “Chaitra Shankranti”. On this day, people remember all their
memories of the year, try to realize their mistakes, promise themselves to rectify them etc. Chyanat, one
of the biggest cultural organizations of Bangladesh, celebrates this day elaborately. It organizes cultural
functions to say goodbye to the year coming to end.
Rabindra Jayanti
This celebration takes place on the birthday of the great literature Rabindranath Tagore on 25 th Baishakh
according to the Bangla calendar. Rabindranath Tagore is a very important figure of Bangla literature.His
contribution in Bangla culture is beyond description. He has taken Bangla literature to a different level.
To show respect to him, to celebrate his creatures, this day is celebrated by different organizations.
Through this celebration, we remind him and his contribution in Bangla literature.

Nazrul Jayanti

Kazi Nazrul Islam is the national poet of our country. His poets, his songs- all his creations have
motivated us to break boundaries, to be brave enough to handle all hurdles.

Nazrul Jayanti is celebrated on the birth of this poet, which is on 11 th Jaishtha according to the Bangla
calendar. Many programs are organized to celebrate his creatures on his birthday.

Others

Except the celebration in the above, there are many other festivals which are also celebrated
throughout the year. For example, wedding, birthday, anniversary, social get togethers etc. are also
celebrated throughout the year. People invite their relatives, neighbor, friends etc. to come and join
these occasions.

Review

The social festivals of Bangladesh Is full of colors, joy and happiness. Every month, every season

of Bangladesh comes with different comes with different occasions. People loves to celebrate them in
their own way. These are the part of Bangladesh’s culture, which is getting continued over the years,
over the decades. People will continue this culture. Also, these occasions strengthen the social bonds
among the people living in a society.

Conclusion

Bangladesh is a country with full of festivals. Not only the social festivals, but also other different
festivals are celebrated with happiness, fun and joy by all. The tradition of celebrating these festivals will
remain same in future, with all possible ways.

References

 "The General Conference proclaim “International Mother Language Day" to be observed on 21

 "Declaration of Independence".  en.banglapedia.org. Retrieved 16 April 2017.

Muazzam Hussain Khan (2012), "Killing of Intellectuals", in Sirajul Islam and Ahmed A. Jamal
(ed.), Banglapedia: National Encyclopedia of Bangladesh (Second ed.), Asiatic Society of Bangladesh.

"About us". Liberation War Museum. Archived from the original on 8 November 2011. Retrieved 21
November 2011.
 "Pahela Baishakh". Banglapedia. Dhaka, Bangladesh: Asiatic Society of Bangladesh. 2015.

 "Pohela Falgun celebrated".  The Daily Star. 14 February 2011.

"Pohela Falgun being celebrated". www.dhakatribune.com. Retrieved 19 March 2016.

"Nobanno celebrations in Chittagong". The Daily Star. Retrieved 19 March 2016.

 Arathoon Anita (1 September 2009).  Introducing History And Civics 3. 

TI Trade. "The Assam Tribune Online". assamtribune.com. Retrieved 2017-03-03.