CropsThe Bengali calendar behind Pohela Boishakh grew out of a Mughal-era 'crop year' meant to time land taxes to the harvest, Banglapedia records. Halkhata, Baishakhi fairs and the Dhaka celebrations still carry the mark of that farming life.
FisheriesPriced out of hilsa, a Rajshahi University department served sarpunti with panta for Pohela Boishakh 2026. In a Jagonews24 column, a professor there tied the switch to hilsa prices, inequality and food culture, in a month when hilsa output had hit an eight-year low.
CookingA day before Pohela Boishakh 2026, Jagonews24 shared three simple fish bhortas to eat with panta bhat or hot rice: flaked hilsa with white mustard paste, blended loitta shutki and mashed fried rui, as hilsa prices rose ahead of the festival.
Ahead of Pohela Boishakh, a single one-kg hilsa was selling for Tk 4,500 at a Dhaka superstore as prices rose across the capital's markets.
Demand for hilsa, usually at its peak for the Bengali New Year, was weak this year in Chuadanga's Boro Bazar despite lower prices.
A student and media worker recalls racing his cousins to gather storm-fallen mangoes during childhood summers in his uncle's village.
Farmers in Sunamganj's haors spent the first day of Baishakh bringing home a bumper boro crop.
