New Year's festivities are directly related with rural life in Bengal . Usually on Pohela Boishakh, the home is meticulously scrubbed and cleaned. People bathe early in the morning and dress in fine clothes. They spend much of the day visiting family, friends, and neighbors. Special foods are ready to entertain guests. This is one country festival that has become extremely big in the cities, especially in Dhaka .
Boishakhi fairs are arranged in many parts of the country. Different agricultural products, traditional handicrafts, toys, cosmetics, as well as different kinds of food and sweets are sold at these fairs. The fairs also supply entertainment, with singers and dancers staging jatra (traditional plays), pala gan, kobigan, jarigan, gambhira gan, gazir gan and alkap gan. They in attendance folk songs as well as baul, marfati, murshidi and bhatiali songs. Narrative plays like Laila-Majnu, Yusuf-Zulekha and Radha-Krishna are staged. Among other attractions of these fairs are dummy shows and merry-go-rounds.
Many old festivals related with New Year's Day have departed, while new festivals have been added. With the elimination of the zamindari system, the punya related with the closing of land revenue accounts has disappeared. Kite flying in Dhaka and bull racing in Munshiganj old to be very colorful events. Other well-liked village games and sports were horse races, bullfights, cockfights, flying pigeons, and boat racing. Some festivals, however, continue to be observed; for example, bali (wrestling) in Chittagong
Observance of Pohela Boishakh has become fashionable in the cities. Early in the morning, people get together under a big tree or on the bank of a lake to observer the sunrise. Artists present songs to accompany in the New Year. People from all walks of life wear conventional Bengali attire: young women wear white saris with red borders, and decorate themselves with churi bangles, ful flowers, and tip (bindis). Men wear white paejama (pants) or lungi(dhoti/dhuti) (long skirt) and kurta (tunic). Many townspeople start the day with the conventional breakfast of panta bhat (rice soaked in water), green chillies, onion, and fried hilsa fish.
Panta Ilish - a conventional platter of available rice soaked in water with fried Hilsa, supplemented with dried fish (Shutki), pickles (Achar), lentils (dal), green chillies and onion - a popular dish for the Pohela Boishakh festival.
The majority colorful New Year's Day festival takes place in Dhaka . Large numbers of people get together early in the morning under the banyan tree at Ramna Park where Chhayanat artists open the day with Rabindranath Tagore's legendary song, এসো, হে বৈশাখ, এসো এসো Esho, he Boishakh, Esho Esho (Come, O Boishakh, Come, Come). A similar ceremony welcoming the New Year is also held at the Institute of Fine Arts , University of Dhaka
The historical value of Pohela Boishakh in the Bangladeshi perspective may be dated from the ceremony of the day by Chhayanat in 1965. In an attempt to suppress Bengali culture, the Pakistani Government had excluded poems written by Rabindranath Tagore, the most famous poet and writer in Bengali writing. Protesting this shift, Chhayanat opened their Pohela Boishakh celebrations at Ramna Park East Pakistan as a symbol of Bengali culture. After 1972 it became a national festival, a representation of the Bangladesh
Today, Pohela Boishakh celebrations also blot a day of cultural agreement without division between class or religious affiliations. Of the major holidays celebrated in Bangladesh
