Falgun, the first month of the festive Spring season and the eleventh month in the Bengali calendar, will be welcomed Tuesday and will also be celebrated on the same day as Valentine's Day, which has been a tradition in Bangladesh since 2020. The second largest celebration in the Bengali calendar year, Pahela Falgun meaning Falgun 1st, used to be celebrated on February 13 every year; however, it was merged with Valentine’s Day in 2020 when Bangla Academy revised Bangla Calendar to align it better with the Gregorian calendar. Welcoming the king of all the six seasons which breathes the life back into brings vibrant sunshine and mild heat in the weather after the short-lived Winter season in the country, the nation is ready to greet the first day of Falgun amid colourful festivities and yellow-red festive attires. Read More: Budget-friendly Ways to Celebrate Valentine's Day Keeping pace with the rest of the world, Bangladeshis will also celebrate Valentine’s Day with their beloved ones, a day symbolising and celebrating love among their beloveds. Although the added festivities of Pahela Falgun brought a new and refreshing tone to the day, netizens especially the youths have been observing the day for the last couple of decades now.  Different organisations and businesses will be celebrating this festive February 14 with multiple festivities this year, marking the return of grand in-person celebrations after three long years of battling with the Coronavirus pandemic and its aftermaths. The tradition of celebrating the Pahela Falgun in Bangladesh started in the Bengali calendar year 1401. Since then, the Jatiya Bawshonto Utsab Udyapan Parishad has been celebrating Pahela Falgun regularly with colourful cultural festivity at the Bakultala of Charukala (Dhaka University Faculty of Fine Art) in the morning every year. Read More: 10 Valentine's Day Gift Ideas for Wife Although the Parishad could not arrange the regular festivities in 2022 due to the pandemic, this year the organization will observe the Pahela Falgun festivities in Charukala Bakultala at 7 am and 3 pm with two different seasons. It will also host similar festivities in the afternoon on the open stage at Uttara Rabindra Sarani and Bahadur Shah Park in the capital. Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy (BSA) will organise a special cultural event at its Nandan Mancha at 4pm. The event will feature musical performances, recitations, dance recitals and choreography of Spring-themed Bengali fashion; however, it also obligated the female festival-goers to must wear flower garlands and males to wear flower garlands in their hands, which infuriated many netizens on social media as they believe such events should not make such obligations. The ongoing Amar Ekushey Book Fair at Bangla Academy and Sohrawardi Udyan already observed an influx of crowd on Monday, the long-standing usual day of Pahela Falgun in the past; and the book-sellers and fair authorities are expecting an even bigger crowd on Tuesday amid the festivities. Read More: Tracing the Roots of Ekushey Boi Mela.

Start of spring or Bengali month Falgun seems to bring pleasant weather in the country as the Met office forecasts dry weather and unchanged temperature ahead. Weather may remain dry over the country, Bangladesh Meteorological Department (BMD) said in a forecast for next 24 hours commencing 9 am on Tuesday. However, light to moderate fog may occur at places over the country during late night to morning, it added. Also read: Rain likely to usher in pleasant weather Night and day temperatures may remain nearly unchanged over the country, said BMD. In an outlook for the next 72 hours, the met office said the temperature may rise offering warmer sunshine and a relief from cold winter days. The lowest temperature in the country was recorded at 8.8 degree Celsius in Tetulia and the highest at 29.6 in Teknaf. Also read: Thanks to good weather Thakurgaon farmers hope for a bumper mustard harvest

A blanket of clouds started to turn the day into night on Saturday noon in Dhaka.

Although the ongoing global pandemic made all events around the world adopt at least the 'new normal' methods, the festivities in the capital marking Pahela Falgun 1427 and Valentine's Day 2021 on Sunday were observed vividly in Dhaka by the cultural organizations and institutions with enthralling programmes.

The people from all ages with their animated vigour and colourful minds are celebrating Pohela Falgun, the first day of the 11th month in the Bengali calendar, signaling the start of spring (Boshonto) and  coinciding with the worldwide celebration of Valentine's Day - all amidst the pandemic.

After surviving what has been a dreadful year in any calendar, dominated for the most part by an invisible killer, Bangladesh is set to awake Sunday to festivity and celebrations rooted in its own natural environment: its people, its rivers, the flora and fauna. Spring is across most cultures and geographies the King of Seasons, a wellspring for life in all its forms to revive itself.