Bangladesh : public and bank holidays, closure of banks, stock exchanges, school vacations

Muslim, Sufi :

Hinduism : The main festival in Bengal in tribute to goddess Durga. Bengalis celebrate with new clothes and other gifts which are worn on the evenings when the family goes out to see the pandals (temporary structures set up to venerate Durga).

School holidays :

Catholic or protestant : Since pre-historic times in Europe, festivities (bonfires, offrerings) were marking the beginning of longer hours of daylight with fires and ritual. The Roman festival of Saturnalia lasted several days in December (gambling and offerings). Germanic tribes also celebrated mid-winter (drinking and rituals). The Bulgarian (with Koleduvane) and the Polish (with Gwiazdka) perpetuate this tradition. Jesus of Nazareth was probably born in springtime (Reformists favour autumn). But in the 4th century, December 25th was chosen for the celebration of his birth by Pope Julius I (Bishop Liberus is also mentioned in 354 A.D.). Thus, a Christian element was introduced in the long-established mid-winter festivals. Before 1582, the Papal States and other Italian city states celebrated New Year’s Day on Christmas Day.

School holidays :

Banks only :

Secular holiday :

School holidays : Http://bmeb.ebmeb.gov.bd/

Bangladeshi schools observe 85 days of holidays, following Islamic celebrations
Schools are closed on Friday and Saturday


We carry confirmed dates till Jan 2024 - heat waves may affect the calendar

Please note that authorities may take last-minute decisions; please double-check if this information is vital to you
Make a Paypal donation of euros 50 to [email protected] to purchase the full calendar for 5 countries, including Bengali schools

Contact [email protected] to purchase a file containing confirmed calendars of 550 countries and regions.

Tradeshows : Lasts 1 month - at the Sher-e-Bangla Nagar - 2024 edition NOT confirmed

Culture : On this day in 1972, Bangabandhu returned to independent Bangladesh after over nine and a half months' confinement in a Pakistan jail. The political icon termed his homecoming a journey from the darkness to light .

Tradeshows : Lasts 5 days - in Dhaka 2024 edition confirmed

Muslim, Sufi : Shab-e-meraz

Buddhism (Vajrayana) : Bhawasma Budhbar - Chinese New Year

Secular holiday : This day commemorates the lives sacrificed to make Bengali one of the national languages when Bangladesh was part of Pakistan. The West Pakistani regime tried to force Urdu as the national language. A demonstration by Bengalis was shot at by police, leading to the death of 4 demonstrators. The nascent Bengali patriotism lead to the birth of Bangladesh. Shaheed Dibosh (Martyrs' Day)

Banks only : Muslims believe that on the night of Shab-E-Barat god writes the destinies of all men for the coming year by taking into account the deeds committed by them in the past. Shab-E-Barat means the night of forgiveness or Day of Atonement. People pray to god both in preparation for Ramadan and for the forgiveness of the sins committed by them.

School holidays :

cards/flowers : Mother’s day has evolved in many countries in different ways. This is because mother’s day has different origins in different countries and therefore occurs on different days in the year. One school of thought claims that this day emerged from the custom of mother worship in ancient Greece. Mother worship which kept a festival to Cybele, a great mother of gods, and Rhea, the wife of Cronus, was held on March 15 to March 18 around Asia Minor. They insist that this custom spread around the world. Mothering Sunday is the celebration of motherhood in the United Kingdom. It is also known as Mid-lent Sunday, Rose Sunday and Laetare Sunday. It originally comes from the Victorian practice of allowing servants to return home to visit their mothers on this day. In the United States, Julia Ward Howe (May 27, 1819 - October 17, 1910) was a prominent American abolitionist, social activist, and poet. Howe’s Battle Hymn of the Republic was first published in the Atlantic Monthly in 1862 and quickly became one of the most popular songs for the Union during the American Civil War. After the war she focused her activities on the causes of Pacifism and women’s suffrage. In 1870 she was the first to proclaim Mother’s Day, with her Mother’s Day Proclamation. Called "Mothering Sunday" in the UK

cards/flowers :

Culture :

Secular holiday : The Aug. 15 holiday was scrapped in 2002 by the government of former Prime Minister Begum Khaleda Zia, after she won a 2001 election by defeating Mujib's daughter Sheikh Hasina, another former prime minister. Mujib was killed with most members of his family in a military coup in 1975, which began years of rule by army generals, including Khaleda's husband Ziaur Rahman, who was killed in a 1981 mutiny. Mujib formally gave the directive for a guerrilla war to gain independence from Pakistan in March 1971. He was arrested by the Pakistani army but his followers led the war to achieve independence in December 1971.

Secular holiday : In 1970, East Pakistan's leading political party, the Awami League, won the elections. Its leader, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, was to become the next Prime Minister, but the President of Pakistan refused. Mujib declared independence for the People's Republic of Bangladesh on March 26, 1971. A nine-month civil war ensued.