Just about every nation in the world has its own special way of
bidding farewell to the old year, while welcoming the new. In Bangladesh
the indigenous tribes of the Chittagong Hills Tracts
celebrate the end of the current year and the beginning of the new
year with a series of colorful and lively festivals
called Sagrai by the Marma people, Bwisu by the Tripura people, and
Biju by the Chakmas. While similar in many ways, each
tribe has a few unique aspects to their celebrations, which take place
in mid April every year, depending on the new moon.
With the Marma
tribe, three days of their four-day festival are spent bidding farewell
to the outgoing year, with the fourth focusing on greeting the incoming
year. On the first day of the festival both male and female members of
the Marma tribe form a procession to take their images of Buddha down to
the riverfront. There the images will be washed on a raft with either a
mixture of sandalwood and water, or milk and water in preparation for
reinstalling them at the temple or in their shrines at their homes. The
following two days, being the last two days of the old year, are spent
in light-hearted celebration called pani-khela, where participants
splash each other with water, symbolically washing away all the sorrows
and ills of the past year. A similar ceremony is carried out by the
Rakhaine, called rangpani, where participants splash each other with
colored water.
The Chakmas enjoy a three-day festival,
two of which fall into the outgoing year. The first day is dedicated to
celebrations for phul bijhu, the second for mul bijhu, and new year’s
day for gojyai pojya. During phul bijhu there is general merrymaking in
preparation for the main festival of mul bijhu, celebrated on the last
day of the outgoing year. During this time the Chakmas visit one
another’s homes, socializing and eating together. Young girls,
distinguished by their blue and red lungis that have been woven on
hand-held looms, gather in groups to enjoy each other’s company and
wander from house to house at leisure and playing games in the
afternoon.
In addition to spending time visiting each other’s homes and enjoying
traditional foods such as panchan, the Tripura
community enjoy goraia dance, with between 10 and 100 artists
participating in the dance which depicts their daily lives and the
processes of jhum cultivation on the hillsides of Chittagong. Throughout the Chittagong Hills Tracts, the
first day of the new year is greeted with merriment and the hope for a
prosperous and trouble-free year ahead.
