Boro Din


Boro Din is what Christmas is called in Bangladesh.

History

Christianity was brought to Bangladesh in 16th century by Portuguese traders and missionaries. Christians in Bangladesh make up 0.03 percent of the population.

Celebrations

Christians in Bangladesh give gifts and cards to each other. Christmas is national holiday in Bangladesh. People greet each other with "Shubho Boro Din". In rural areas, banana trees and leaves are used for decoration. Special events are held in hotels and Christmas specials are shown on TV. Tribal celebrations are a little different from Bengali Christmas celebrations. Traditional foods include cakes, pitha, paesh, shemai, and sandwich. Christians visit churches and make Christmas cakes. Churches are decorated with small paper triangles called Nishan. Church choirs perform Bengali Christmas songs. Christmas feasts are called Preeti Bhoj and hymns are called Kirtan.
Some restaurant such as, Westin Dhaka and Pan Pacific Sonargaon host programmes for Boro Din.