The Bangladesh Cultural Institute of Italy is happy to celebrate its second birthday.

BCII was founded on the 1st September 2007. Today is going on with its beautiful and interesting activity, to spread the language and the culture of Bangladesh in Italy and all over the world.

Thanks to all friends for their support to BCII activities.

Happy birthday BCII !!

Boishakhi Mela 1416 in Rome - Begali New Year 2009 in Rome

Like in BANGLADESH, bengali community in Italy celebrate the Boishakhi Mela.

Bengali New Year (Bengali: Nôbobôrsho) or Pohela Boishakh (Pôhela Boishakh or Pôela Boishakh or Poila Boishakh) is the first day of the Bengali calendar, celebrated in both Bangladesh and West Bengal, and in Bengali communities in Assam and Tripura.

In Bangladesh, it is celebrated on April 14th according to the official amended calendar designed by the Bangla Academy.

In Bangladesh, Pohela Boishakh is a national holiday.

On 2009, celebrations in Rome are in Villa Gordiani Park, from the 23th till 31st May 2009.

A Boishakhi fair is arranged in Rome. Various traditional handicrafts, toys, as well as various kinds of food and sweets are sold at this fair.

The fair also provides entertainment, with singers and dancers.

They present folk songs.

People wear traditional Bengali attire:

young women wear white saris with red borders, and adorn themselves with churi bangles, ful flowers, and tip (bindis).

In Rome men are dressed in an occidental style, but in Dhaka still nowadays people prefer to wear white paejama (pants) or lungi(dhoti/dhuti) (long skirt) and kurta (tunic).

People can eat the traditional Panta Ilish - a tradtional platter of leftover 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. But, also, jahal muri, the traditional kebab and the jalapi pancakes.

The celebration of Boishakhi Mela in Rome it's an opportunity to maintain a tradition of Bangladesh and to make now to youngers how a New Year's Day is celebrated in Dhaka.

It'a also an opportunity to discuss about racism in Italy, the second and the next generation and the new concept of nationality.

Paan and Betel leaves

Display of the items usually included in a chewing session. The betel leaves are folded in different ways according to the country and have mostly some Calcium hydroxide daubed inside. Slices of the dry areca nut are on the upper left hand and slices of the tender areca nut on the upper right. The pouch on the lower right contains tobacco, a relatively recent introduction.

Paan, from the word pan in Urdu, پان, and Hindi, पान, is a South, East and South East Asian tradition which consists of chewing Betel leaf (Piper betle) combined with the areca nut. There are many regional variations.

Paan is chewed as a palate cleanser and a breath freshener.
It is also commonly offered to guests and visitors as a sign of hospitality and as an "ice breaker" to start conversation.
It also has a symbolic value at ceremonies and cultural events in south and southeast Asia.
Paan makers may use mukhwas or tobacco as an ingredient in their paan fillings.
Although most types of paan contain areca nuts as a filling, some do not.
Other types include what is called sweet paan, where sugar, candied fruit and fennel seeds are used.

Areca nut is often mistakenly translated in the English language as "Betel nut", a misnomer, for the betel vine has no nuts. This name originated with the fact that the betel leaf is chewed along with the areca nut, the seed of the tropical palm Areca catechu. Supari or adakka is the term for the nut in many Indic languages.

Although "paan" is generally used to refer to the leaves of the betel vine, the common use of this word refers mostly to the chewing mixture wrapped in the Betel leaves.

Pan Dan (Urdu: پان دان) is used for serving Paan after a meal. This was a tradition in the Royal families of Pakistan and India and continues to this day.




Varieties
Paan is available in many different forms and flavours.

The most commonly found include:

• Tobacco (tambaku paan): Betel leaf filled with powdered tobacco with spices.
• Areca nut (paan supari, paan masala or sada paan): Betel leaf filled with a mixture consisting of a coarsely ground or chopped areca nuts and other spices.
• "Sweet" (meetha paan): Betel leaf with neither tobacco nor areca nuts. The filling is made up primarily of coconut, fruit preserves, and various spices. It is also often served with a maraschino cherry.
• "Trento" (olarno paan): It is said that it tastes like betel but has a minty after taste. Eaten along with fresh potatoes, it is served in most Indian restaurants.
  

There are a variety of betel leaves grown in different parts of India and Bangladesh; the method of preparation also differs from region to region.

The delicately flavoured paan from Bengal is known as Desi Mahoba. Maghai and Jagannath are the main paans of Benaras. Paan prepared from small and fragile leaves from south India is known as Chigrlayele. The thicker black paan leaves, the ambadi and Kariyele, are more popular and are chewed with tobacco.

Effects on Health
The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) regards the chewing of betel-quid and areca nut to be a known human carcinogen.

The main carcinogenic factor is believed to be areca nut. A recent study found that areca-nut paan with and without tobacco increased oral cancer risk by 9.9 and 8.4 times respectively.

Culture
Chewing the mixture of areca nut and betel leaf is a tradition, custom or ritual which dates back thousands of years from South Asia to the Pacific. Ibn Battuta describes this practice as follows: "The betel is a tree which is cultivated in the same manner as the grape-vine; … The betel has no fruit and is grown only for the sake of its leaves … The manner of its use is that before eating it one takes areca nut; this is like a nutmeg but is broken up until it is reduced to small pellets, and one places these in his mouth and chews them. Then he takes the leaves of betel, puts a little chalk on them, and masticates them along with the betel."

It constitutes an important and popular cultural activity in many Asian and Oceanic countries, including Myanmar, Cambodia, the Solomon Islands, Thailand, Philippines, Laos, and Vietnam. It is not known how and when the areca nut and the betel leaf were married together as one drug. Archaeological evidence from Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines suggests that they have been used in tandem for four thousand years or more.

Paan is a ubiquitous sight in many parts of South and Southeast Asia, It is known as beeda (in Tamil), Killi/Tambulam in (Telugu), 'sireh (in Bahasa Melayu) and Pan Dan (in Urdu). In urban areas, chewing paan is generally considered a nuisance because some chewers spit the paan out in public areas. The red stain generated by the combination of ingredients when chewed are known to make a colorful stain on the ground. This is becoming an unwanted eyesore in Indian cities like Mumbai, although most see it as an integral part to Indian culture. This is also common in some of the Persian Gulf countries like the UAE and Qatar, where many Asians live. Recently, the Dubai government has banned the import and sale of Paan and the like.

According to traditional Ayurvedic medicine, chewing areca nut and betel leaf is a good remedy against bad breath (halitosis). However, as mentioned previously in this article, chewing this mixture can possibly lead to oral cancer.

Bangladesh
In Bangladesh paan is chewed all over the country by all classes of people. Paan is offered to the guests and festivals irrespective of all religion. A mixture called Dhakai pan khili is famous in Bangladesh and the subcontinent. The sweet pan of the Khasia tribe is famous for its special quality. Paan is also used in Hindu puja and wedding festival and to visit relatives. It has become a rituals and tradition and culture of Bangladesh society. Adult women gathered with pandani along with friends and relatives in leisure time.

(From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia )

Nakshi kanthar maath, by Jasim Uddin

Nakshi kanthar maath, by Jasim Uddin

Spreading the embroidered quilt,

She works the livelong night,

As if the quilt her poet were

Of her bereved plight.

Many a joy and many a sorrow

Is written in breast;

The story of Rupa's life is there,

Line by line expressed.

The fishes find the deep sea,

The birds the branches of the tree.

The Mother knows her love for her son,

By the sharp pain in her heart alone,

Many and diverse the colour of the cows,

But white the colour that all milk shows.

Through all the world,

A Mother's name,

A Mother's song is found the same.

Black is the pupil of my eye,

Black ink with which I write,

Black is Birth and death is black,

Black is the universal Night.

(From http://www.fhiredekha.com/forum/index.php?topic=77.0 )

Jasimuddin
Jasimuddin (full name Jasimuddin Mollah) (1903-1976) was a renowned Bengali poet.

He is commonly known in Bangladesh as Polli Kobi, the Rural Poet.

Biography
Jasimuddin was born in the village of Tambulkhana in Faridpur District. While still a student at university, wrote the poem 'Kabar' (grave), a very simple tone to obtain family-religion and tragedy.

Simplicity was his style.

That poem was placed in the entrance Bangla book. After obtaining a master's degree in Bangla, he taught at the University of Dhaka. Later, he worked in the information department of the Government.

Major works

• Rakhali (Shepherd), (1927)
• Nokshi Kanthar Maath (1929)
• Sojan Badiyar Ghat (1933)
• Ranila Nayer Majhi (1935)
• Matir Kanna (1951)
• Suchayani (1961)
• Padma Nadir Deshe (1969)
• Bhayabaha Sei Dingulite (1962)
• Padmapar (1950)
• Beder Meye (1951)
• Pallibodhu (1956)
• Gramer Maya (1959)
• Thakur Barir Anginay (1961)
• Germanir Shahare Bandare (1975)
• Smaraner Sarani Bahi (1978)
• Bangalir Hasir Galpa(Part 1 & 2)
• Dalim Kumar
• Boba Kahini (1964)
• Field of the Embroidered Quilt (Nokshi Kanthar Maath's English version)
  

(From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)

Jasimuddin From 1931 to 1937, Jasimuddin worked as ramtanu lahiri assistant research fellow under dinesh chandra sen, collecting folk literature. In 1938 he joined the university of dhaka as lecturer. He left the university in 1944 to join the Department of Information and Broadcasting. He continued working here, first under the Bengal government and then under the East Pakistan Government, until his retirement as Deputy Director in 1962.
Jasimuddin's talent as a poet developed early. As a college student, he wrote the poem 'Kabar' (Grave). The poem, a dramatic monologue of an old man talking to his grandson in front of his wife's grave, was included in school textbooks while Jasimuddin was still a student at university.
Jasimuddin's first book of verse, Rakhali (Shepherd), was published in 1927. His other books are Naksi Kanthar Math (1929), Sojan Badiyar Ghat (1933), Ranila Nayer Majhi (1935), Matir Kanna (1951), Suchayani (1961), Padma Nadir Deshe (1969), Bhayabaha Sei Dingulite (1962), Padmapar (1950), Beder Meye (1951), Pallibadhu (1956), Gramer Maya (1959), Thakur Badir Aninay (1961), Germanir Shahare Bandare (1975), Smaraner Sarani Bahi (1978), Bangalir Hasir Galpa, Dalim Kumar, etc. He also wrote a novel, Boba Kahini (1964). He edited two books on folk music: Jarigan (1968) and Murshida Gan (1977). Naksi Kanthar Math and Bangalir Hasir Galpa have been translated into English as The Field of the Embroidered Quilt and Folk Tales of East Pakistan respectively.

Called 'Palli Kavi' (folk poet), Jasimuddin is the poet of rural Bengal, depicting the natural beauty of the rural world as well as the lives of ordinary peasants.

His poetic rhythms are drawn from folk poetry, easy on the ear and quick to imbed themselves in the memory. He was also a writer of fine prose, fluent, witty, and expressive.

Jasimuddin was one of the pioneers of the progressive and non-communal cultural movement. He was an ardent supporter of socialism and of Bengali nationalism. In the 1950s when the government of Pakistan attempted to stop broadcasting tagore songs, he protested boldly.

In 1969 Jasimuddin was awarded the DLitt by Rabindra Bharati University.

He also won several awards, including the President's Award for Pride of Performance (1958), Ekushey Padak (1976) and Swadhinata Dibas Puruskar (posthumous, 1978). In 1974 he was also selected for the Bangla Academy Award but refused it. Jasimuddin died in Dhaka on 13 March 1976 and was buried in his own village.

(From Banglapedia, the international encyclopediaa of Bangladesh)

http://sos-arsenic.net/lovingbengal/news.html#7

Sultana's Dream by Rokeya Sakhawat Hussain

Sultana's Dream is a classic work of Bangla science fiction and an early example of feminist science fiction.



The Bengali short story was written in 1905 by Rokeya Sakhawat Hussain, a Muslim feminist, writer and social reformer who lived in British India, in what is now Bangladesh.


The word sultana here means a female sultan, i.e. a Muslim ruler.


"Sultana's Dream" was originally published in English in The Indian Ladies Magazine of Madras.


It depicts a feminist utopia of role reversal, in which men are locked away in seclusion, in a manner corresponding to the traditional Muslim practice of purdah for women. As a result, women run everything, aided by science fiction-esque "electrical" technology which enables labourless farming and flying cars. Crime is eliminated, since men were responsible for it all. The workday is only two hours long, since men used to waste six hours of each day in smoking. The religion is one of love and truth, rather than any traditional faith with a history of denying the rights of women.






Roquia Sakhawat Hussain, (1880 – December 9, 1932) was a prolific writer and a social worker in undivided Bengal in the early 20th century.

She is most famous for her efforts on behalf of gender equality and other social issues.

She established the first school aimed primarily at Muslim girls, which still exists today.

She was a notable Muslim feminist.

Names
She was born Roquia Khatun but achieved prominence as Begum Roquia Sakhawat Hussain. Begum is an honorific, that is, a title of respect in addressing a woman. When she wrote in English, she transliterated her name as Rokeya.

Life
Roquia Khatun was born in 1880 in the village of Pairabondh, Rangpur, in what was then the British Indian Empire and is now Bangladesh.
Her father, Jahiruddin Muhammad Abu Ali Haidar Saber, was a highly educated zamindar (landlord). Roquia had two sisters, Karimunnesa Khatun and Humayra Khatun; and three brothers, one of whom died in childhood.

Roquia's eldest brother Ibrahim, and her immediate elder sister Karimunnesa, both had great influence on her life. Karimunnesa wanted to study Bangla, the language of the majority in Bengal. The family disliked this because many upper class Muslims of the time preferred to use Arabic and Persian as the media of education, instead of their native language, Bangla.
Ibrahim taught English and Bangla to Roquia and Karimunnesa; both sisters became authors.
Karimunnesa married at the age of fourteen, later earning a reputation as a poet. Both of her sons, Nawab Abdul Karim Gaznawi and Nawab Abdul Halim Gaznawi, became famous in the political arena and occupied ministerial portfolios under British authorities.

Roquia married at the age of sixteen in 1896. Her Urdu-speaking husband, Khan Bahadur Sakhawat Hussain, was the Deputy Magistrate of Bhagalpur, which is now a district under the Indian state of Bihar.

He continued her brother's work by encouraging her to keep learning Bangla and English. He also suggested that she write, and on his advice she adopted Bangla as the principal language for her literary works because it was the language of the masses.

She launched her literary career in 1902 with a Bangla story entitled Pipasa (Thirst).
In 1909, Sakhawat Hussain died. He had encouraged his wife to set aside money to start a school primarily for Muslim women. Five months after his death, Roquia established a high school in her beloved husband's memory, naming it Sakhawat Memorial Girls' High School. It started in Bhagalpur, a traditionally Urdu-speaking area, with only five students. A dispute with her husband's family over property forced Roquia to move the school in 1911 to Calcutta (now known as Kolkata), a Bangla-speaking area; it remains one of the city's most popular schools for girls. The school is now a West Bengal state government runned school and has two medium of instructions. One section of the students have Bangla and the other learns all subjects except English and Maths in Urdu. This school can help ameliorate communal harmony in the country.


Begum Roquia also founded the Anjuman e Khawateen e Islam (Islamic Women's Association), which was active in holding debates and conferences regarding the status of women and education. She advocated reform, particularly for women, and believed that parochialism and excessive conservatism were principally responsible for the relatively slow development of Muslims in British India. As such, she is one of the first Islamic feminists. She was inspired by the traditional Islamic learning as enunciated in the Qu'ran, and believed that modern Islam had been distorted or corrupted; her organization Anjuman e Khawateen e Islam organised many events for social reforms based on the original teachings of Islam that, according to her, were lost.

Begum Roquia remained busy with the school, the association, and her writings for the rest of her life. She died of heart problems on December 9, 1932. In Bangladesh, December 9 is celebrated as Rokeya Day.

Gender Equality
Begum Roquia was an inspiring figure who contributed much to the struggle to liberate women from the bondage of social malaises.
To raise popular consciousness, especially among women, she wrote a number of articles, stories and novels, mostly in Bengali.
Begum Roquia used humor, irony, and satire to focus attention on the injustices faced by Bengali-speaking Muslim women.

She criticized oppressive social customs forced upon women that were based upon a corrupted version of Islam, asserting that women fulfilling their potential as human beings could best display the glory of Allah.
Begum Roquia wrote courageously against restrictions on women in order to promote their emancipation, which, she believed, would come about by breaking the gender division of labor. She rejected discrimination for women in the public arena and believed that discrimination would cease only when women were able to undertake whatever profession they chose.

Works
Sultana's Dream, a notable early work of feminist science fiction involving a utopian male/female role-reversal.

• Oborodhbashini ("The woman in captivity")
• Motichur Paddorag ("Essence of the Lotus")
• Narir Adhikar ("The Rights of Women"),
• an unfinished essay for the Islamic Women's Association

To read Sultana's Dream: http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/sultana/dream/dream.html

(From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)

Rickshaw Art - decorative art of rickshaws

Rickshaw, one of the principal means of transport in the urban areas of Bangladesh.

With the improvement of road communication throughout the country, rickshaw has now found its way into rural areas as well.

As a mode of transport rickshaw was first introduced in Japan in the early twentieth century. This mode of transport became particularly popular there due to the Second World War situation, which made petrol and motorised transport scarce and expensive. Japan, however, had soon replaced rickshaw, nintaku in Japanese, with motorised vehicles and by the 1950s the cycle rickshaw had disappeared from Japan.

In the 1930 and early '40s rickshaw became popular in Indonesia, Singapore and other Southeast Asian countries. Rickshaw is said to have reached Chittagong from Myanmar in 1919. Interestingly, rickshaw did not spread out to Dhaka and other cities of Bangladesh from Chittagong.

Dhaka got rickshaw from Calcutta, where it was first introduced around 1930. European jute exporters living in Narayanganj and Netrokona (in Mymensingh) had first imported cycle rickshaw from Calcutta in 1938 for their personal use. The new vehicle roused great curiosity among the people of Dhaka, who were traditionally used to horse carriages, palanquins and city-canal boats. Initially cycle rickshaw did not receive enthusiastic response from users.
The Dhaka city had only 37 rickshaws in 1941 and 181 rickshaws in 1947. Before 1947, Dhaka was a district town, which had a population of 62,469 only according to 1951 census. But in 1998, the city's population grew over 8 million and the number of registered rickshaws in the city was 112,572. The number of rickshaws in all other cities of Bangladesh in that year was 274,265 and in all villages 91,040. Rickshaw and rickshaw vans (also a tricycle vehicle similar to rickshaw but with the difference that instead of passenger seats, these have a flat bed of wooden bars resting on the axle over the rear pair of wheels and they carry goods in small lots) are now fast replacing the traditional transports like horse carriages and bullock carts in the country.

It is a popular guess that the total number of rickshaws in the city is at least two and a half times that of the registered ones and accordingly, the city had at least 280,000 rickshaws in 2000. Estimates based on the figures that each rickshaw is operated by two pullers in morning and evening shifts and the average number of family members of a rickshaw puller is five, suggest that the rickshaws of Dhaka city alone is a source of income for nearly three million people.

Unlike in all Southeast Asian countries, rickshaws in Bangladesh have a lasting foothold. It has established itself with a dominance unmatched by other modes of transport. The predominance of rickshaw as a transport is evidenced by the fact that the percentage-wise traffic composition in Dhaka, Sylhet, Comilla and Rangpur cities are 49%, 78%, 80% and 55% respectively.

Other means of transport in Dhaka are, in order of traffic, the (a) cars, jeeps, pick-ups etc. (b) baby taxi, (c) bus, (d) truck, (e) tempo and (f) bicycle. Bicycle, however, is the second in the list of predominant vehicles in cities outside Dhaka.

Fifty percent of the value added in transport sector is being contributed by rickshaws and the mode of transport provides employment and living to people engaged not only as the pullers directly but also as its manufacturers of its mainframe, the body with seat and hoods and its spare parts. A great number of people depends for the living on the decoration of rickshaw body, artwork on it and rickshaw garages.

Rickshaw Art - decorative art of rickshaws, which may be extended to cover all rickshaw decoration, from painted backboards and rear side panels to cut-outs appliquéd on to hoods and brass vases replete with plastic or paper flowers.

In a restrictive sense it is generally applied to the painted backboard, a tin plate fixed to the lower rear of a rickshaw hiding the chain. In this sense it is also extended to include the paintings on the rear of autorickshaws or baby taxis. Rickshaw art has been compared to traffic art in other parts of the world, such as the decorated trucks of Pakistan.
Rickshaw art is mainly an urban phenomenon and perhaps dates back to the 1950's. It shares some similarity of theme and execution with movie billboards, which may be ascribed to the fact that many rickshaw painters had either themselves painted movie billboards or had apprenticed with such painters. The art of the rickshaw painter is passed on from ustad, master, to apprentice. There is a lot of repetition, either because of the popularity of some motifs or because of the influence of the master craftsman.

The paintings are executed quickly, with readymade enamel paints, which do not allow paints to be mixed. Bright primary colours are popular and the painting is flat, lacking shadows, perspective, and scale.

There are variations in rickshaw art in different towns of Bangladesh.

For example, nearly eighty per cent of rickshaws in Dhaka city are decorated and most of them have animal scenes, natural scenes, and pictures of movie themes.

Chittagong and Comilla areas show less enthusiasm about decorating rickshaws and the rickshaw art there contain fewer human images and have more images of flowers, birds, animals etc. Rickshaws in Sylhet, considered to be a more pious area, are rarely decorated.

Among popular themes are: the Taj Mahal, movie scenes and portraits of movie stars, idyllic scenes of rural Bengal with plump hens, placid cows, coconut palms, neat huts, gentle streams. Islamic scenes such as mosques and Borak, the winged horse, are also frequently found.

Because rickshaw backboards have to be painted annually, rickshaw artists often depict topical themes. In the early seventies, scenes of fighting between muktijoddha (freedom fighters) and Pakistani soldiers were common. Increasingly common, especially on autorickshaws are scenes of futuristic cities, planes and other fast-moving forms of transport.

Rickshaw artists do not always sign their pictures. Sometimes the name of the rickshaw garage owner or rickshaw maker or mistri is noted on the plate. Sometimes artists paint under pseudonyms. Occasionally, a number of artists share the same name, and, at other times, a plate executed by an apprentice, is signed with the name of the master.

It is probable that, with the increasing recognition being given to this form of folk art (a collection of rickshaw paintings has been given to the bangladesh national museum and a non-government organisation is popularising rickshaw art) more and more artists will sign their names.

To know more about it: http://www.artsricksha.com/index.htm

(From Banglapedia, the national encyclopedia of Bangladesh)

Rickshaws ( riksha) in Bangladesh are cycle-powered, and are available for hire throughout the country; Bangladesh's capital, Dhaka is known as the "Rickshaw Capital of the World".

However, increasing traffic congestion and the resulting collisions have led to the banning of cycle rickshaws on many major streets in the city. Still, in many neighborhoods of Old Dhaka, rickshaws are the only kind of vehicle that can travel through the narrow streets. Rickshaw-pullers are known as rikshawala in Bangla.

Bangladeshi rickshaw pullers are mostly from the district of Rongpur.

Because of the recent famine and less job opportunities, people from there migrate to Dhaka, Sylhet and Chittagong to pull rickshaws.
Rickshaw man Omar Ali is Bangla's music star winner in the television "Pop Idol"-style talent show.

(From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)

Basanta-Utsab, the spring festival in Bangladesh

In West Bengal of India and Bangladesh it is known as Dolyatra (Doul Jatra) or Basanta-Utsab ("spring festival").

Basanta-Utsab is also called Holi, the Festival of Colors.

It is a popular Hindu spring festival observed in India, Nepal, Bangladesh, and countries with large Hindu diaspora populations, such as Suriname, Guyana, South Africa, Trinidad, the UK, Mauritius, and Fiji.

The most celebrated Holi is that of the Braj region, in locations connected to the god Krishna: Mathura, Vrindavan, Nandagaon, and Barsana. These places have become tourist destinations during the festive season of Holi, which lasts here to up to sixteen days.

The main day, Holi, also known as Dhulheti, Dhulandi or Dhulendi, is celebrated by people throwing colored powder and colored water at each other. Bonfires are lit the day before, also known as Holika Dahan (burning of Holika) or Chhoti Holi (little Holi). The bonfires are lit in memory of the miraculous escape that young Prahlad accomplished when Demoness Holika, sister of Hiranyakashipu, carried him into the fire. Holika was burnt but Prahlad, a staunch devotee of god Vishnu, escaped without any injuries due to his unshakable devotion. Holika Dahan is referred to as Kama Dahanam in Andhra Pradesh.

Holi is celebrated at the end of the winter season on the last full moon day of the lunar month Phalguna (February/March), (Phalgun Purnima), which usually falls in the later part of February or March.

In 2009, Holi (Dhulandi) was on March 11 and Holika Dahan was on March 10.
Rangapanchami occurs a few days later on a Panchami (fifth day of the full moon), marking the end of festivities involving colors.

(From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)

The population of Bangladesh is greater than Russia’s.

Dhaka, the capital, is now the ninth most populous city on earth with some 12 million inhabitants, a megalopolis that, like all others, is firmly enmeshed with world economics and culture.

Even so, two thirds of Bangladesh’s people farm for a living, and because of the nation’s geography, dominated by immense rivers and weather blowing in from the Bay of Bengal, contemporary culture is still steeped in the seasons.

Bangladesh actually observes not two or four but six seasons, “Grisma (summer), Barsa (rainy), Sarat (autumn), Hemanta (late autumn), Shhit (winter) and Basanta (spring).”

And by the Bangali calendar Basanta/Spring begins with a celebration known as Basanta Utsab.

“People of all ages with yellow and festive dress gathered at the compound of Farida Biddayatan, to welcome the season.”

An audience showered with flower petals is treated to Bangali dance, music, and poetry.

The young women do it up especially right with Bashonti (yellow) sarees and alluring eye paint.

While the celebration of spring likely has roots in rural folk tradition, the current outpouring of cultural performances in the capitol seems to have begun more recently. Chhayanaut, a cultural organization, started holding artistic programmes “celebrating the advent of spring in the city in the late 1960’s,” and the annual event “gradually gained a wide currency among the people….It is a reunion for the people who love the Bangali culture, irrespective of caste, creed and colour.”

Consider what wintertime’s like if you live on the streets, as many thousands do in Bangladesh. It’s no wonder the Bangali people call Spring (Basanta) king of seasons, a king crowned with shimul and palash.

Yet it seems no coincidence that the festival arrives just at Valentine’s Day, a western holiday that is being adopted in much of urban Bangladesh. Basanta Utsab, as well as seasonal, is a cultural pushback, an affirmation of Bangla history and customs as not only spring but Western styles and habits advance.

One commentator wrote, “The people of the Parishad think that Basanta Utsab is not merely a cultural programme, involving music, dance or performing arts; it is rather an effort to introduce the Bangali culture to the new generation.”

And what finer introduction than young women adorned with yellow silks, yellow bands of flowers.

(From http://www.humanflowerproject.com/index.php/weblog/comments/basanta_sixth_season/ )