Staff Reporter:
People of indigenous communities in the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) are celebrating ‘Boisabi,’ the traditional New Year festival of the ethnic groups, amid festivities.
The three-day festival kicked off in three CHT districts – Rangamati, Bandarban, and Khagrachari – on Friday, floating flowers on rivers, lakes, and other waterbodies.
Different ethnic communities celebrate the festival under diverse names. Tripura community calls it ‘Boishuk’ while Marma population terms it ‘Sangrai,’ Chakma community calls the festival ‘Biju,’ and Tanchangya tribe marks it as ‘Bishu’.
The name, Boisabi, consists of Boishuk’s ‘boi’, Sangrai’s ‘sa,’ and Biju’s ‘bi’.
There are two natural lakes – Bainkhiyon and Bogakail, and an artificial one named Kaptai Lake in the Chittagong Hill Tracts, while five rivers – Karnaphuli, Shangu, Matamuhuri, Chengi, and Feni – flow through the area. These lakes and rivers have a deep connection with the celebration of Boisabi.
In Rangamati, as soon as the sun rose, people of Chakma and Tripura communities floated flowers on the water at various places of the town, including Rajbarighat, Polwell Park, and Kerani Pahar, on the occasion of ‘Phulbiju’ and prayed to the mother Ganga for a prosperous New Year.
They also prayed so that all frustrations and sorrows of the previous year were removed.
Hena Chakma, a young girl, said, “It is our traditional and social festival to welcome the New Year. This time we are celebrating the occasion in a very pleasant atmosphere. I am praying to Mother Ganga for a world free from hunger, poverty, and war.”
In Bandarban, youths of Tanchangya and Chakma communities from different neighbourhoods and villages gathered together to welcome the New Year by floating flowers on the water of the Sangu River and removing the dirt of old days.
Wearing new clothes, men, women, and children worshipped the god of water with flowers and prayed for endless happiness and peace in the days to come.
The Sangrai festival started with a colourful procession from Bandarban Raja’s ground on Saturday morning, followed by worshipping the elders.
Bandarban Festival Celebration Committee Convener Mong Mong Sing Marma said, “This time we are celebrating the Sangrai festival in a grand manner and we expect the presence of small ethnic groups as well as Bengalis in it.”
In Khagrachari, before dawn on Friday, people of Tripura community collected flowers from different areas and worshipped the Ganges on the bank of the Chengi River and canals.
State Minister for Chittagong Hill Tracts Affairs Kujendra Lal Tripura inaugurated a colourful procession on the Khagrachari Town Hall premises in the morning.
Wearing their traditional clothes, young people of the Tripura community took part in the procession organised by Bangladesh Tripura Welfare Parliament which ended in the Khagrachari Cultural Institute.
On Sunday, the third and final day of the festival, ethnic delicacies called ‘Pachon’ and ‘Dochoyani’ will be cooked in every household and everyone from children to the elderly people will go from house to house and spread the joy of Boisabi by singing local songs.
