Mangal Shobhajatra or Mongol Shovajatra is a mass procession that takes place at dawn on the first day of the Bengali New Year in Bangladesh. The procession is organised by the teachers and students of the Faculty of Fine Arts of the University of Dhaka. The festival is considered an expression of the secular identity of the Bangladeshi people and as a way to promote unity. It was declared an intangible cultural heritage by UNESCO in 2016, categorised on the representative list as a heritage of humanity.
First Ananda (Later renamed as Mongol) Shobhajatra (1989)
Large paper-made replica of a Bengal tiger being carried at Mangal Shobhajatra
Pohela Boishakh ) is the Bengali New Year celebrated on 14 April in Bangladesh and 15 April in the Indian states of West Bengal, Tripura, Jharkhand and Assam. It is a festival based on the spring harvest—which marks the first day of the new year in the official calendar of Bangladesh.
Pohela Baishakh celebration in Dhaka, Bangladesh
The new year salutation at Ramna Park
Mangal Shobhajatra at Pohela Boishakh in Bangladesh. UNESCO recognises Mangal Shobhajatra as cultural heritage.
Students of Charukala (Fine Arts) Institute, Dhaka University preparing masks for Pohela Boishakh