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Bangladeshi community marks Bengali New Year
Several members of the local Bangladeshi community welcome the Bengali New Year wearing their traditional attire in last week’s celebration at the Kilili Pavilion. (Jon Perez)
Saipan’s Bangladeshi community marked the Bengali New Year or Pohela Boishakh last Thursday, April 14, the fist day of the Bengali calendar. The island has a vibrant Bangladeshi community that annually commemorates four of their major festivals.
The Bangladeshi Cultural Group led the Bengali New Year celebration, also known as Shubho Noboborsho, last week at the Kilili Pavilion at Oleai beach right across the Gilbert C. Ada Gymnasium.
Bangladeshi community members were dressed in their traditional and colorful attires, and also had fireworks.
“But not unlike the Chinese New Year. We only had some fireworks,” said BCG president Rakibul Islam.
Over 100 members joined the festivities where traditional food was served while songs, dances, and poetry reading were held for entertainment. Kids ran around and played within the grounds, while their parents and other elders enjoyed the raffle where various prizes were given away.
Security was tight in the Bangladesh capital of Dhaka as tens of thousands celebrated and joined the festivities. Celebrations were also held in Bengali-speaking regions of India and states of West Bengal, Tripura as well as in small communities in Assam, Jharkhand, and Orrisa.
Bangladeshi communities in other countries also had similar celebrations.
The BCG also celebrates the Bengali Language Movement Day every Feb. 21, their Independence Day every March 26, and Victory Day—commemorating the Allied Forces’ victory over Pakistan’s military in the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War—on Dec. 16.
The BCG aims to continue their culture and traditions even thousands of miles away from their motherland. They also want to teach their youth, especially those who were born in the CNMI, of their heritage.
It was in early ’90s when the first group of Bangladeshi came to Saipan to work. Their numbers swelled through the years with some even starting their own families here.
