Religious Festivals in Bangladesh

Religious Festivals in Bangladesh

Bangladesh is a country of communal harmony. People from any religion feel free to celebrate their religious festivals with a befitting manner and due honor and fervency. In Bangladesh, we have many religious festivals to observe for strengthening our social relations, deepening our religious beliefs, and upholding our cultural tradition. There is a great appeal for all the festivals not only in our personal life but also is our individual life. Festivals are common to all societies and cultures. With the change of social and economic setup, the nature of festivals also changes. But some festivals are so deeply rooted in the social organism that they continue to entertain from generation to generation.

There are as many festivals in Bangladesh as there are days in the year. Fairs and festivals play an important role in the social life of ordinary Bangladeshis. The two main religious festivals of the Muslims of Bangladesh are Eid-al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha. Eid-al-Fitr is observed after the end of Ramadan. After month-long fasting, people become very glad when they see the new moon of Eid-al-Fitr in the evening sky. The next morning the pious Muslims put on new clothes and go to Edgar to say the Eid prayer. Sweets, biryani, and other delicious foods are prepared in houses. Relatives are invited on the occasion and good foods, new clothes. Zakat and Fitra are distributed to the poor. The Eid returns every year and so is the case with Eid al-Adha. On the occasion of Eid al-Adha, four-footed domestic animals are sacrificed. The meat and flesh of the sacrificed animals are distributed to the poor. The biggest religious festival of the Hindu community is Durga Puja. The Hindus participate in it with great enthusiasm. Durga Puja is an old festival. It is a folk form of the past which has turned now into an autumnal festival. It is also known as the untimely awakening of goddess Durga as Ramchandra invoked her because in the past Durga Puja was performed in the spring and that was the propitious time for offering Puja to the goddess.

Widely celebrated festivals for other religious communities are the Durga Puja for the Hindus, Christmas for Christians etc. In our country, the Christians and the Buddhists also observe different religious festivals of their own. The Christmas festival is the main religious festival of the Christians. The festival is the birth anniversary of Jesus Christ. It lasts for a single day. On the day special prayers are offered in the churches. Feasts are arranged in houses and gifts are distributed among friends and relatives.

The main festival of the Buddhists is Buddha Purnima or Baisakhi Purnima. The birth of Buddha, his adoption of asceticism, his attainment of ‘nirvana’–all these occurred on the full-moon lunar day. It is the most important and solemn festival of the Buddhists. It is being celebrated in Bangladesh with great splendor for more than one thousand years. In Bangladesh people of different communities live in peace and harmony and they have different religious festivals throughout the year.