It is beyond denial the fact that traditional festivals, with their wide dissemination and great attraction, have a profound impact on the spiritual and material life of the people. Festivals contribute to creating close relationships and promote solidarity among members of the community and society as a whole. This is a necessary condition for the stability, development, and existence of the community and society.
A news item headlined ‘Life gets dull as traditional festivals vanishing’ was published in the Bangladesh Post on Wednesday. The news states that Bangladesh, once regarded as a land of festivals, with a major festival every season, now boasts of very few making life dull and monotonous across villages, towns and cities.
Man does not live by bread alone. But the gift of the modern civilization is hypertention and all work and no relaxation from the drudgery of life. Festivals can comfort us from the challenges of life by supplying the mental pabulum.
Festivals maintain the community's rituals, beliefs, and customs, and are an essential part of the cultural and spiritual heritage of the nation. Festivals show national characteristics and reflect and crystallise spiritual, artistic, historical, cultural, and social values and treasures throughout the course of national formation, development, war, and revolution. In the context of globalization, the concern for cultural identity and a traditional culture that is both rich and diverse becomes more urgent.
According to the news published in the daily, the disappearance of traditional festivals is a bleak reminder of aggressive urbanisation, replacing rural, agrarian Bangladesh. Over the past three decades, Bangladesh has undergone a rapid transformation, with thousands of people leaving villages willingly or unwillingly, labouring for an economy that displaced them from their roots, both literally and metaphorically, the news added.
Besides, the festivals circling religious and national and historic days, other main and traditional festivals are Pohela Boishakh (Bengali New Year), Nabanna (New Harvest Festival), Halkhata, Poush Mela, Borsha Utsab, village fairs etc. But all those festivals are declining and some are almost vanished.
Some festivals related to the crop calendar also lost their lustre over time.
The Nabanna Utsab or the rice harvest festival faded over time. The festival used to mark the harvest of Aman rice, which became second to Boro cultivation over time in the race to produce more rice. Aman is a variety of the staple rice that farmers preserved for their own consumption.
The loss of joy is directly influenced by the economic transformation that, in a way, left farmers behind, caught in a debt trap from frequent disasters and never to recover the loss, the news said further. Hal Khata became a ritual of renewal—debts settled not quietly but with festivity. But Hal Khata, too, has mostly disappeared. Pahela Baishakh has been absorbed into urban festivities. The rural fairs of clay dolls, bamboo flutes, glass bangles, and traditional sweets have been swallowed by time, the news added.
Traditional festivals contain unique aesthetics and play a role in embellishing national identity. Festivals include folklore, songs, games, musical instruments, dances, and the relics of festivals. They also contain the rules of behaviour between humans and the divine, elevating the soul, benefiting the nation, and creating a cultural space of time and place. Traditional festivals are a way to express strong feelings and aspirations of the community. These are celebrations of union, bonding, and the unity of the nation. Traditional festivals provide spiritual support to society in the long struggle against invasion and destruction by enemies and strengthen their national position.
We should not let our traditional festivals decline and vanish. We should seriously take care of them for the sake of our distinguished identity as distinguished nation and a traditionally rich country. It is no longer optional, but essential.
