Shubho Biju, Shubho Nobo Borsho, Happy Bangla New Year 1420

Chakma’s in the Chittagong Hill Tracts celebrate Biju, at the end of Chaitra, just before the traditional Bangla New Year, the beginning of Baishakh. The Marma’s follow the Burmese tradition and celebrate a few days later. Happy 1420.

Sunrise at Alutila, Khagrachori on 13th April 2013. Bangla New Year 1420
Sunrise at Alutila, Khagrachori on 13th April 2013. Bangla New Year 1420The?

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A goat gets a reluctant holy dip at Marma New Year.1420. Photo: Shahidul Alam/Drik/Majority World
A goat gets a reluctant holy dip at Marma New Year.1420. Photo: Shahidul Alam/Drik/Majority World

 
During the Marma New Year celebrations (called Biju by the Chakmas) women throw water at the men they'd like to marry. This looked more like a free for all, with the men throwing water back. 14th April 2013. Khagrachari. Chittagong Hill Tracts. Photo: Shahidul Alam/Drik/Majority World
During the Marma New Year celebrations (called Biju by the Chakmas) women throw water at the men they’d like to marry. This looked more like a free for all, with the men throwing water back. 14th April 2013. Khagrachari. Chittagong Hill Tracts. Photo: Shahidul Alam/Drik/Majority World

Author: Shahidul Alam

Time Magazine Person of the Year 2018. A photographer, writer, curator and activist, Shahidul Alam obtained a PhD in chemistry before switching to photography. His seminal work “The Struggle for Democracy” contributed to the removal of General Ershad. Former president of the Bangladesh Photographic Society, Alam set up the Drik agency, Chobi Mela festival and Pathshala, South Asian Media Institute, considered one of the finest schools of photography in the world. Shown in MOMA New York, Centre Georges Pompidou, Royal Albert Hall and Tate Modern, Alam has been guest curator of Whitechapel Gallery, Winterthur Gallery and Musee de Quai Branly. His awards include Mother Jones, Shilpakala Award and Lifetime Achievement Award at the Dali International Festival of Photography. Speaker at Harvard, Stanford, UCLA, Oxford and Cambridge universities, TEDx, POPTech and National Geographic, Alam chaired the international jury of the prestigious World Press Photo contest. Honorary Fellow of Royal Photographic Society, Alam is visiting professor of Sunderland University in UK and advisory board member of National Geographic Society. John Morris, the former picture editor of Life Magazine describes his book “My journey as a witness”, (listed in “Best Photo Books of 2011” by American Photo), as “The most important book ever written by a photographer.”

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