The Bangladesh Embassy in Seoul celebrated the Bangla New Year 1429 with great fervour and festivity Sunday at the Eunpyeong Culture and Arts Centre in Seoul. Wearing colourful clothes, more than 300 Bangladeshi nationals living in South Korea joined the event with their families. The auditorium of the centre was decorated with colourful banners, festoons, balloons and decorative items and Bangladeshi handicraft items were displayed at the entrance. The main attraction of the event was a Mangal Shobhajatra, a United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) cultural heritage. People – with colourful dresses, banners, festoons, masks and traditional musical instruments – cheerfully marched the street. In the cultural segment, the embassy officials, their families, and expatriate Bangladeshis sang "Esho He Boishakh" to greet the Bangla New Year. They performed poetry recitations, folk songs, and dances. Different indoor games were also arranged for children and women. Bangladesh Ambassador to South Korea Delwar Hossain handed out prizes to the winners. The guests were served panta-ilish and different smashed items and sweetmeats.

Christian community is celebrating Christmas Day in the country, as elsewhere across the world, with restrictions and limitations due to Covid-19 today (Saturday). Christmas, the biggest religious festival of the Christian community, is annually celebrated by Christians all over the world on the 25th of December, commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ. It is the time when family, friends and relatives get together to celebrate the day with colourful lights and Christmas trees decorated inside homes. READ: COVID puts a damper on Christmas Eve again around the world Like last year, Christians in Bangladesh are celebrating their religious festival with restrictions and limitations as advised by the government due to the Covid-19- pandemic. All religious and social programmes are being arranged on a very limited scale worldwide due to Covid-19, and the religious festivals of Muslims, Hindus and Buddhists were celebrated in Bangladesh on a limited scale, maintaining health guidelines, the Home Ministry said on December 14. On the occasion, President Abdul Hamid and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina issued separate messages greeting the Christian community. READ: Yet another Christmas in the shadow of Covid-19 Bangladesh Television and Bangladesh Betar and different private TV channels and radio stations will air special programmes highlighting the significance of the day.