No Boisabi celebrations this year

Each year, the nation welcomes the Bengali New Year with colourful festivities.

The indigenous communities celebrate the beginning of the New Year with different programmes, collectively known as the Boisabi festival. The word 'Boisabi' is derived from 'Boisuk' (Tripura), 'Sangrain' (Marma) and 'Biju' (Chakma). Traditionally, Boisabi is a cultural and religious festival of the indigenous people in the Chittagong Hill Tracts. It is their biggest annual celebration.

This year, owing to the nationwide shutdown to curb the spread of the coronavirus, the collective Boisabi celebrations are cancelled. The government urged the indigenous communities to celebrate at their homes, maintaining social distancing.

"The whole world is mourning the losses of lives due to the coronavirus. For the greater good of the community, we are willingly sacrificing our joyous festivities this year," shares prominent indigenous artist Kanak Chanpa Chakma. 

The festivities are usually divided into religious and cultural rituals. "The celebrations are very limited this year. We are not allowed to go to our local pagoda and we are hosting the religious rituals in our homes," shares Joy, a tourist guide.

For the Marma community, the Sangrain's main attraction is the water festival, along with the Rakhaine community's 'Jolkheli.'

"In the urban areas, no one will celebrate collectively and in the rural areas, people are encouraged to participate in the religious rituals from their homes," shares artist Mong Mong Sho.  

The Chakma community begin their three-day Biju festival with 'Phool Biju', by floating flowers into the river. On 'Mul Biju', they bid farewell to the past year. The first day of the New Year, called 'Gojjya Pojjya Din', is the final day of the Biju festival. 

"As this is our biggest celebration of the year, we are devastated to see the cancellation," says dancer Fifa Chakma. "However, most of us are celebrating the festival in our homes and connecting with each other online." Usually Fifa takes part in different cultural programmes to celebrate the Biju festival, but this year, she has been sharing her work through different social media platforms.

 "We are not going for the traditional social rituals this year and we are mentally prepared to celebrate the occasion on our own," shares Sejuti, a former student of DU.