Boisabi festival begins today in Rangamati

Source:- http://www.thedailystar.net/story.php?nid=30855

Non-government organisations (NGOs) working in the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) have taken an eight-day programme in Rangamati in the run-up to the traditional Boisabi festival.

Chairman of Rangamati Hill District Council Jagat Jyoti Chakma will launch the weeklong programmes at Rajbari Stadium today.

The Boisabi festival is the most important social event in the CHT and is celebrated with great enthusiasm and festivities. The festival runs from April 12 though the Bangla New Year on April 14.

The three-day festival welcomes the Bangla New Year while shedding the sorrows of the outgoing year amid assorted social programmes.

Indigenous peoples in the region -- Chakma, Marma, Tripura, Tangchangya, Mro, Chak and Khumi -- have already begun taking preparations for this year's festival.

The NGO-sponsored programmes include wrestling, Gengkhuli, Tumbrubazi Khela, cultural functions, art competition, film show, drama, roundtable, flower floating, poem recitation and photo exhibition. Regional sports will also be held to mark the Boisabi.

The NGOs have distributed leaflets in Rangamati town to draw public attention to their programmes.

The inauguration today will be followed by a cultural function. The NGO programmes will end on Fulbijhu Day, the first day of the Boisabi festival.

The festival is known in many names in the CHT. The Chakmas call it Bijhu, the Marmas Sangrain, the Tripuras Boisuk and the Tangchangya term it Bisu.

But the name change does not reduce the significance of the festival. It is equally important to all the ethnicities of the region.