Joya Saxena, Staff Writer
On Sunday, April 14 at 5 PM in Moore Lounge in Pearsons, there was a celebration of Eid al-Fitr and Boishakh (also known as Bengali New Year). Both festivals were combined and the fusion was organized by the Asia Pacific Students’ Association, the Global Cultural Exchange Club, and the Weissberg Program in Human Rights and Social Justice.
Eid is celebrated by Muslims all over the world because it marks the end of the month-long dawn-to-sunset fasting of Ramadan. Eid is observed on the first day of Shawwal, the tenth month of the lunar Islamic calendar, which signifies rebirth and a new life after a month of spiritual cleansing in the Muslim tradition. Eid is a time for Muslim communities to come together, break bread, and exchange gifts. It is significant in Islam because the end of Ramadan signifies a time to reflect on the lessons learned throughout the month, such as patience, compassion, and gratitude. Eid is commemorated by a large, community-wide prayer service in the morning, followed by meals and conversation with friends and family. Before the prayer, a charity called Zakat al-Fitr is collected and distributed to the poor and needy to ensure all can participate in the festivities. Eid al-Fitr is the Arabic name for the holiday, but it goes by many other names in other languages.
Pohela Boishakh is the first month in the Bengali calendar and it began on April 14. It is celebrated in Bangladesh and the neighboring Indian states of West Bengal, Assam, Odisha, Jharkhand, and Tripura. The first day of Boishakh is observed with cultural programs, carnivals, and festivals all over the region. Boishakh is significant to Bengali culture because it marks the beginning of Summer and is the month when seasonal fruits like mango, watermelon, and jackfruit become available. It symbolizes prosperity, abundance, and new beginnings for the Bengali community. Pohela means “first” in Bengali, which is why Bengalis refer to the holiday as “Pohela Boishakh.”
This fusion celebration event was spearheaded by students Helmi Kawsar ‘27, Sristi Halder ‘26, and Taman Azad ‘27. “Sristi approached me and asked me to do Bengali New Year because she had too much on her plate, so I began taking the lead,” says Kawsar. “The main thing starts with planning the event. I sat down with other Bengali students, including Sristi, and we made a list of items we wanted to buy. We also made a budget estimating how much everything would cost using a spreadsheet.” Kawsar says she approached multiple sources for funding and the Weissberg Program and the Funding Board were the most on board. “We used their funding to buy food from Amazon. Sristi, Taman, and I went to Walmart as well.” Kawsar notes that cooking was one of the most difficult facets of executing this event. “Anyone organizing events is always suggested not to cook but we were very ambitious in what we were planning on cooking,” says Kawsar. “We ordered clay pots that were too small compared to what we wanted so we had to make three batches of mishti doi (Bengali dessert). We made it on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights, so three nights in a row. It was difficult considering I had my math exam on Friday and our [dance] performance at the International Food Festival in Rockford on Saturday. After we came back, we were tired but we were cooking again. I did not expect it to be this time-consuming and exhausting. Cooking was a huge part of it.”
Despite these obstacles, Kawsar credits a lot of the event’s success to Azad. “He advised me on everything, from organizing, to planning, to cooking,” says Kawsar. “We are both freshmen and [Halder] is a first-semester sophomore. This was our first event and it took a lot of time and effort but I was given a new perspective on how difficult organizing big events really is.” When asked what she hoped people would take away from the Eid/Boishakh celebration, Kawsar responded, “First and foremost, I hope people enjoyed the event and the food because we spent a lot of time cooking. I also wanted people to learn and understand the Bengali culture. As a Muslim, I enjoy Eid every year but I thought it would be cool to blend this Islamic holiday with the Bengali culture. This is the first time Bengali culture has truly been represented on campus. I loved cooking traditional Bengali food and playing Bengali music in the background. I hope people got a sense of the Bengali culture during the event and I hope we get to do more of this in the future.”
Azad adds, “The best part about organizing this was everyone coming together to bring something of this grandeur. Eid and Boishakh are not typically celebrated together but we wanted to use our resources to promote cultural immersion to the whole campus community and allow people from both cultures to express their pride.”
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