Pahela Agrahayan and Nobanno

I

All the months of the Bangla calendar are named after a constellation in the heavens. Except for Agrahayan, which starts in mid-November. Translated as "the first one", the Bangla New Year was celebrated on Pahela Agrahayan for centuries. That was until Emperor Akbar decided to change the calendar to Pahela Baishakh in 1584 AD, but calculations started from 1556 AD, the year he ascended the throne.

Pahela Agrahayan is known as Nobanno - the new food (feast). Rural Bengal had two harvests: Aush and Aman. Aman was the harvest farmers prayed for. It's reaped in Kartik, a month before Agrahayan. With food surplus in their house, and pleasant weather, ancient rural Bengal was ready for a series of festivities. Durga Puja in Kartik. Nobanno, Lakshmi Puja, and Diwali in Agrahayan.

II

The Aman harvest determined the fate of farmers. When the harvest was good, there was surplus. The surplus would transform into pithas, khoi, muri, mowa, firni. The list continued.

The people of Bengal never needed an excuse to celebrate. With surplus food, songs and dance weren't too far away. Kites would fill the blue skies. Nouka baich would fill the rivers.

The fields would fill up with fairs. Artisans would bring their products to sell. Kids would queue in front of the nagordola. The squeaking noise of the nagordola would leave a seal in hearts forever of nostalgia.

Villages would turn into funfairs. Bengal had its own version of the circus with animal playing, juggling, shooting, throwing rings and what not? People were happy in the breeze of Hemanta, perhaps the best breeze of the year.

Villages of southern Purba Bangla (today's Bangladesh) had one special treat. Water buffaloes. Villages with large fields would organize water buffalo races. Some parts of Bhola, Lakshmipur still have this tradition. The icing on the cake? Buffalo yoghurt with molasses at the end of the race.

Women of rural Bengal may have stayed at home. That didn't mean they weren't playing their role. At home they were weaving nakshi kanthas. Each kantha had a story of Nobanno to tell in their tapestries. And that wasn't the end.

The night was always too young in Agrahayan. The evenings would see jatras - a tradition that's now almost lost. Mystic singers would sing in the light of pidims. Poets would recite their puthis. The party would go on till wee hours of dawn.

III

Nobanno had a dark side. The weather from the heavens could destroy farmers. If the Aman harvest was a waste, so was the fate of farmers for the rest of the year. Farmers would find it hard to pay crop taxes to landlords. And the vultures came to prey. The poor farmers entered an inescapable bondage with money lenders.

There was another dark side. Farmers who had daughters living in far-off villages couldn't invite them for naiyyor. There weren't messengers in those days. The helpless daughter would wait, gazing at the path to her parents' house.

IV

Emperor Akbar may have changed Pahela Agrahayan to Pahela Baishakh centuries ago, but people don't give up traditions easily. Times have changed, but never the spirit to party when there's an excuse. Maybe celebrations of today won't be what they were in yesteryears. But they do give an inkling. People of this side of Bengal did know and still do know how to celebrate festivals in festivity.

Asrar Chowdhury teaches economics in classrooms. Outside, he watches Test cricket, plays the flute and listens to music and radio podcasts. Email: asrarul@juniv.edu or asrarul@gmail.com