DHAKA, Feb 27, 2025 (BSS) - Bangladeshi expats in the USA will celebrate Bengali New Year in New York City on 12-13 April.

The programme will include Mangal Shobhajatra, puppet show, bioscope, theatre, folk songs and so on, said a press release received here today.

NRB World, an organisation of non-resident Bangladeshis (NRBs), will arrange the programme with the cooperation of progressive social and cultural organisations.

The announcement was made recently in presence of hundreds of literary and cultural personalities at a restaurant in Jackson Heights in New York, said the release. 

The New York State Senate recently passed a resolution proclaiming 14 April 2025 as 'Bangla New Year's Day' in the state of New York.

The resolution described that Bangla New Year Day has its origins in the Mughal Empire of the Indian subcontinent and is largely a secular holiday for most celebrants and enjoyed by people of several different faiths and backgrounds through music, dance, and fine arts. 

Mongol Shobhajatra, the traditional mass procession taken out by University of Dhaka at dawn on New Year Day has been declared an intangible cultural heritage by UNESCO in 2016, categorised on the representative list as a heritage of humanity, the resolution said.