Bengali New Year celebrated in Maldives

Bangladesh High Commission in the Maldives has celebrated the Bengali New Year 1418 on Thursday.

A reception was hosted at Dharubaaruge by the Bangladesh High Commissioner to the Maldives Rear Admiral A S M A Awal to observe the Day.

A cultural function staged by the artists from the Bangladeshi Community was performed to mark the day.

The reception organized by the Bangladesh High Commission was attended by the invited Ministers, members of the diplomatic corpse, MPs, high officials, dignitaries and a large number of Bangladeshi expatriates.

Meanwhile, Bengali New Year or Poyela Boishakh is the first day of the Bengali calendar, celebrated in both Bangladesh and West Bengal, and in Bengali communities in Assam and Tripura. It coincides with the New Year's Days of numerous Southern Asian calendars.

Poila Boishakh connects all ethnic Bengalis irrespective of religious and regional differences. In India, in West Bengal and Assam it is a public (state) holiday and is publicly celebrated in mid April. In Bangladesh, it is a national holiday celebrated around 14 April according to the official amended calendar designed by the Bangla Academy.