DHAKA: Nabanna Utshab, the traditional harvest festival, will be celebrated across the country, on the first day of Agrahayan of Bangla calendar that falls on November 15.

Jatiya Nabanna Utsab Utjapan Parshad, the celebration committee, will arrange a day-long cultural program to mark the day at fine arts faculty of Dhaka University widely known as Charukala.

The celebration program will include music, dance, recitation, traditional games and discussion.

The parshad convener Shahriar Salam, at a press conference at National Press Club in city on Wednesday, told the media that ‘Nabanna Utsab’ will begin at 7:00am on the day with the sound of traditional instruments, including ‘banshi’.

The auspicious beginning will be followed by a rally called ‘Shobhajatra’ from Charukala at 9:30 in the morning which will parade the Teacher-Student Center (TSC) of Dhaka University intersection and return to Fine Arts Faculty, he added.

“We face many difficulties to celebrate ‘Nabanna Utsab’ here though the country’s civilization is based on agriculture. We have been celebrating the festival despite all odds,” he said.

He added: “We have been requesting the government for the past 16 years to declare the first day of Agrahayan of Bangla calendar as a public holiday so that people of all walks of life can celebrate the day.”  

However, language movement veteran Ahmad Rafique will inaugurate the festival of this year.

Several cultural organizations, including Rabindra Sangeet Sammilan Prishad, Udichi Shilpigoshthi, Wrisij and Kendria Khelaghar Ashar, will participate in the celebration.

BDST: 1640 HRS, NOV 12, 2014