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How to celebrate Poila Baisakh with a true friend

How to celebrate Poila Baisakh with a true friend

Poila Baisakh is the Hindu New Year in West Bengal and Bangladesh is celebrated in the month of Vaishakh or Baisakh (April – May). Poila Baisakh 2016 date is April 14. The Bengali New Year is popularly referred as Naba Barsa in Bengal and Pohela or Poila Baisakh in Bangladesh and is the first day in the Bengali Calendar. Bengali Year 1423 begins on the day.

On Poila Baisakh, Goddess Lakshmi, the Hindu goddess of wealth, and Lord Ganesh are worshiped. Traders perform the halkhata ceremony that marks the advent of the Bengali New Year. All shops are decorated with flowers and one will notice stringed fresh lemons and chilies hanging in front of shops. This is used to ward off the evil eye.

Shopkeepers, businessmen and traders close the old accounts and open a new one. People visit their favorite shop during the day to wish them luck for the year ahead. Traders welcome customers on this day with sweets.

In Bengali houses, Naba Barsa is noted for the special elaborate alpanas or rangolis. Women make it a point to buy a new sari or saree for Poila Baisakh, especially a white sari with red border. Traders popularly call the sale of new clothes during Naba Barsha as ‘Chaitra Sales.’

No Hindu festival is complete without the mouthwatering cuisines. And Bengali prepare both Vegetarian and non-Vegetarian dishes for Poila Baisakh.

I do also celebrate Poila boishakh but in a foody way, eating delicious Bengali food like Basanti polaokochi panthar jholchingri malaikariTel KoiKosha Murgir manshoBengali Masoor DalKancha Amer Chutney,

How to celebrate Poila Baisakh with a true friend
How to celebrate Poila Baisakh with a true friend
How to celebrate Poila Baisakh with a true friend