Bengali New Year Celebrated in Davis
By Ras Siddiqui

The Bangladeshi-American community led by the Anandamela Team of Greater Sacramento celebrated Bengali New Year (1422) at the Harper Junior High School in Davis, California on Saturday, April 25, 2015. Bangladesh today is respected worldwide for its growing economy and not only its jute products but more recently its ready-made garments and textiles. It is also an educated nation whose people are making a mark worldwide in the areas of science and technology. Many Bangladeshis today are employed in high-tech companies in the San Francisco Bay Area and in the Sacramento region with a number of engineers working at Intel Corporation in Folsom, and in many other fields in the county or for the State of California.

This Sacramento area group (which includes Davis) may not be large but it remains quite active in all areas including MCF in Folsom. Bengalis love their language and literature (Rabindranath Tagore won South Asia’s first Nobel Prize writing in Bengali). This Bengali New Year celebration is now part of an annual tradition here, and an opportunity for people from both Bangladesh and West Bengal (in India) to celebrate their heritage. And they succeeded in doing just that here once again with great food (Bengali sweets and ethnic delicacies like Jhal Muri), music, dance and a great deal of cultural pride!

There should be no doubt that the organizers of this event should consider a larger venue next year. It was certainly an overflowing crowd, where the native dress of the ladies and the kids stood out. The country is also known as “Golden Bengal” and Gold, Green and Red are used extensively in Bengali clothing.

The ethnic diversity which exists within the Sacramento region includes the Bengali community which is certainly a growing part of it. Bengali New Year or Pôhela Boishakh was officially celebrated on Tuesday, April 14th this year. It ranks behind religious holiday celebrations in terms of fervor but remains an important element in the culture of a proud people. Shuvo Noboborsho (Happy New Year) to all our Bengali readers from Davis, California!