Making sense of Bangladeshi holidays is complicated by the fact that four different calendars combine to make up Bangladeshi holidays: the Gregorian, Islamic, Hindu and Buddhist calendars all contribute a few holidays each. The Islamic calendar is ten days shorter than the Gregorian calendar, and hence, Muslim holidays begin ten days earlier every year. The Hindu calendar is a lunar calendar and so the holidays stay around the same period each year. There is only one Buddhist holiday in May so thankfully that one is less complicated. Finally, the Gregorian calendar holidays are at the same time every year. Unless otherwise indicated, the religious holidays below are public holidays in which you can expect most government offices and shops to be closed.

Bangladeshi terracotta is visible on its many Hindu and Buddhist temples.

To see the Bangladesh of today against its glorious history, it is both enlightening and depressing to imagine that Bengal used to occupy such a place of glory and power in the subcontinent. During the 16th century, its wealth supported the Mughal Empire, and at its zenith in the mid-18th century, Bengal’s cotton and silk textiles were in demand worldwide with Dutch, Portuguese, British and French traders landing on its shores. However, the late colonial period marked a substantial change as the British proved themselves successful at draining Bengal of its wealth and destroying its cotton industry. Despite its past triumphs, 1943 proved to be the watershed year in this demise, when a terrible famine gripped the people, leaving an estimated three to five million dead from starvation, a tragedy from which modern Bangladesh has yet to fully recover. To understand such atmospheric heights and catastrophic falls, let us start from the beginning.

Islam is the overwhelmingly dominant religion in Bangladesh, but over its history Bengal has played host to Hinduism and Buddhism as well. Christianity, the smallest of the four religions, is mainly a result of missionaries who arrived in the British period and the Portuguese who came centuries earlier. Worldwide, Bangladesh has the fourth largest population of Muslims in the world, behind Indonesia, Pakistan and India.

While the constitution of Bangladesh mandates religious freedom, you may discover yourself bound to a religion you don’t necessarily follow in practice, as a common question that Bangladeshis have is about your religion. Whatever your orientation is, it is best to pick one of the major religions and stick to it as atheism is a concept not well understood in the country.