Bengali Festivals and Celebration Words: Boishakh, Puja, Eid and Ekushey
The main festivals of Bengali-speaking communities in Bangladesh and West Bengal, with greetings and vocabulary for each celebration.
Bengali life is organised around festivals that cross religious and national lines. Learning the words for them gives you a window into the culture and something to say at every time of year.
Pohela Boishakh — Bengali New Year
পহেলা বৈশাখ (Pohela Boishakh) is the first day of the Bengali calendar, celebrated in mid-April. In Bangladesh it falls on 14 April, and in West Bengal on 14 or 15 April. People wear traditional clothes, eat special food, hold fairs and parades, and settle accounts with businesses. The Mangal Shobhajatra procession in Dhaka is listed by UNESCO as intangible cultural heritage.
Greeting: শুভ নববর্ষ (Shubho Noboborsho) — Happy New Year.
Durga Puja
দুর্গাপূজা (Durga Puja) is the most important festival for Bengali Hindus, held in autumn over several days, with elaborate temporary pandals housing statues of the goddess. Durga Puja in Kolkata was inscribed on UNESCO's list of intangible cultural heritage in 2021. It is as much a social and artistic celebration as a religious one.
Greeting: শুভ বিজয়া (Shubho Bijoya) — used after the festival ends, to wish others well.
Eid
ঈদ (Eid) marks the end of Ramadan (Eid-ul-Fitr) and the festival of sacrifice (Eid-ul-Adha). It is a major public holiday in Bangladesh, with prayers, family visits, new clothes and special foods.
Greeting: ঈদ মুবারক (Eid Mubarak).
Ekushey February
একুশে ফেব্রুয়ারি (Ekushey February), 21 February, commemorates the Language Movement of 1952. In Bangladesh, it is a solemn day of tributes at the Shaheed Minar, and internationally it is marked as International Mother Language Day.
Other important occasions
- স্বাধীনতা দিবস (Shadhinota Dibosh) — Independence Day, 26 March
- বিজয় দিবস (Bijoy Dibosh) — Victory Day, 16 December
- নবান্ন (Nabanna) — harvest festival celebrating the new rice
- সরস্বতী পূজা (Saraswati Puja) — the goddess of learning, worshipped by students
- রথযাত্রা (Rathayatra) — chariot festival
- বইমেলা (Boi Mela) — book fairs, with major ones in Dhaka in February and Kolkata in winter
- পৌষ পার্বণ (Poush Parbon) — winter harvest festival with sweets and rice cakes
Festival vocabulary
- উৎসব (utsob) — festival
- ছুটি (chhuti) — holiday
- নতুন জামা (notun jama) — new clothes
- মেলা (mela) — fair
- নিমন্ত্রণ (nimontron) — invitation
- শুভেচ্ছা (shubhechchha) — good wishes
Shared traditions
Many festivals are enjoyed across communities, and it is common for friends of different faiths to visit one another, share food and exchange greetings. Food is central: sweets at Puja, sheer khurma and biryani at Eid, panta-ilish (rice with fried fish) on Pohela Boishakh.
Practice
- Learn the greeting for each major festival.
- Note the date of the next occurrence.
- Send a message in Bengali to a friend or colleague.
- Look up festival words you don't know.
Look up festival vocabulary with English Bangla Dictionary →
English Bangla Dictionary
Offline English–Bangla dictionary with meanings in proper Bengali script
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