Bangla history and culture

The Language Movement

In 1948 the government of Pakistan, which then included today's Bangladesh, moved to make Urdu the only state language, though most people in East Bengal spoke Bangla. On 21 February 1952 students in Dhaka defied a ban on gatherings, and police opened fire near Dhaka Medical College. Among those killed were Abul Barkat, Rafiq Uddin Ahmed, Abdul Jabbar, Abdus Salam and, the next day, Shafiur Rahman.

The Shaheed Minar now stands near that place. Every year people walk there barefoot at dawn to lay flowers. This walk is called প্রভাতফেরি (probhat pheri), and everyone sings the same song on the way. Abdul Gaffar Chowdhury wrote it and Altaf Mahmud set it to music. The night before, volunteers paint আলপনা (alpona), flowing folk patterns, along Dhaka's roads.

In 1999 UNESCO declared 21 February International Mother Language Day. Few languages have been defended at such a cost, which is why Bangla matters so much to the people who speak it.

The Liberation War মুক্তিযুদ্ধ

The students who died for Bangla in 1952 started something bigger than a language. Over the next two decades the demand to speak Bangla became a demand to govern in it. In 1971 it became a war for independence.

1. 1952
   Ekushey February

   Students are shot in Dhaka while defending Bangla as a state language. The day becomes a symbol of Bengali identity.

2. 1956
   Bangla is recognised

   Pakistan's first constitution makes Bangla a state language alongside Urdu. The wider grievances over power and money remain.

3. 1969
   Mass uprising

   Protests across East Pakistan, the গণঅভ্যুত্থান (gonobhyutthan), help bring down President Ayub Khan.

4. 1970
   An election that isn't honoured

   The Awami League wins an outright majority in Pakistan's national assembly. The assembly is postponed and power is not handed over.

5. 7 Mar 1971
   The Racecourse speech

   At the Ramna Racecourse, now Suhrawardy Udyan, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman tells a huge crowd that the struggle this time is for freedom.

6. 25 Mar 1971
   Operation Searchlight

   The Pakistan Army launches a crackdown in Dhaka. Students, teachers and ordinary people are killed that night.

7. 26 Mar 1971
   Independence is declared

   Bangladesh marks this as Independence Day, স্বাধীনতা দিবস (shadhinota dibosh).

8. Mar–Dec 1971
   Nine months of war

   Freedom fighters, the মুক্তিযোদ্ধা (muktijoddha), fight back. Around ten million people flee to India as refugees. Estimates of the dead range from hundreds of thousands to three million, the figure Bangladesh officially commemorates.

9. 14 Dec 1971
   The intellectuals

   Teachers, doctors, writers and journalists are abducted and killed in the war's final days. The date is Martyred Intellectuals Day, শহীদ বুদ্ধিজীবী দিবস (shohid buddhijibi dibosh).

10. 16 Dec 1971
    Victory

    After India joins the war in early December, Pakistani forces surrender in Dhaka. Bangladesh celebrates Victory Day, বিজয় দিবস (bijoy dibosh).

11. 1999
    Ekushey goes global

    UNESCO declares 21 February International Mother Language Day. Today the dead of 1971 are honoured at the Jatiyo Smriti Soudho, the National Martyrs' Memorial in Savar.

The war reached far beyond Bangladesh. On 1 August 1971, George Harrison and Ravi Shankar held the Concert for Bangladesh in New York to raise money for refugees. It was the first big benefit concert of its kind. And just weeks after independence, in January 1972, the new country founded its own airline, Biman Bangladesh, with a white crane, the bolaka, as its logo.

This is the outline most Bangladeshi students learn. Historians still debate some details, especially the death toll.

Pohela Boishakh পহেলা বৈশাখ

Bangladesh has its own Bangla calendar, and its new year, Pohela Boishakh, falls on 14 April. The current Bangla year is 1433. Since 2019 the calendar has been fixed, so national days always fall on the same Bangla date. 21 February is always 8 Falgun, and Victory Day is always 1 Poush.

• Red and white. People dress in red and white. The day starts with songs at dawn under the banyan tree at Ramna Park in Dhaka.
• The procession. Students from Dhaka University's Faculty of Fine Arts lead a parade of giant masks and animal figures. It began in 1989, and UNESCO listed it as Intangible Cultural Heritage in 2016.
• Panta-ilish. Many families start the year with পান্তা ভাত (panta bhat), rice soaked overnight in water, eaten with fried hilsa, green chillies and raw onion. Panta began as a farmer's cooling breakfast for hot April mornings.
• Storm season. In April and May, sudden কালবৈশাখী (kalboishakhi) storms sweep in on late afternoons, with black skies, strong winds and hail.