Winter is the time when people of this part of the world have traditionally given indulgence to their gastronomical luxuries and made time for various cultural activities. No, all these are way different from the Christmas and the New Year’s Eve festival which are special to the Christian community the world over. Even the late addition of the urban culture of pitha melas (cake fair) now arranged by the Shilpakala Academy under the national banner and even by some super shops has hardly anything to do with the local pitha utsav or cake festival.
Poush Parban by name, the occasion has emerged on its own in keeping with the demand of the soil and clime. People, after all, are a product of a particular place and environment. Earlier, this was the time when farmers had completed harvesting Aman paddy and had both means and time to treat themselves to something extra. The toiling mass got a supportive ally in Nature which reserved for them one of the sweetest juices in the shape of date trees. It is a heavenly combination ---molasses made from date juice and cakes prepared from freshly harvested rice.
Even the poorest among the farmers had some stock of the rice as they harvested paddy of their affluent counterparts. The other ingredients also could be managed somehow. Sharecroppers were better placed. Some of them served as gachhis or date juice extractors. Moreover, in rural Bangladesh there was an unwritten tradition of sharing special dishes or exchanging ingredients among people. Of course, in terms of varieties of cakes and their quality, there were clear differences. Usually those of the landlord class had their cows and date trees to supply as much milk and molasses they required and also had money to buy spices and other ingredients. The poor folks did not have the luxury of managing all such items to make their cakes more salivating.
However, people do not eat cakes every day, they eat meals for survival. On this score too, there was and is a shift for the better during the winter. Winter vegetables are quite a treat themselves and this is further complemented by abundant supply of fish. With the water receding fish in natural water sources become an easy prey to fishermen. It is in fact the peak fishing time in rural Bangladesh. People of all classes get a good share of this source of delicious dish with the lower segment catching an array of fish from canals, rivers and other common water bodies and the affluent class procuring them from professional fishermen.
No wonder that rural youths have chosen this time for arranging picnics. That is quite an experience. Urban people cannot even think of the joy and thrill of this particular expedition. It is an expedition to a new setting made out of the known. Just imagine spending a whole night in a temporary hut and stealing most of the items on a full moon night. Yes, you have not mistaken in reading the word ‘stealing’. Vegetables, fish and if possible hens had to be stolen from various sources. People were aware of this but did not mind too much if they were the target or victim of the special theft.
The preparation for picnic started well ahead of the day proper. Of course, subscription was necessary to purchase spices, cooking oil, milk and the ingredients that could not be stolen. It was easy to make a hut with just bamboo branches and paddy stalks which were many times longer than today’s IRRI or Boro stalks. The bamboo branches had to be inserted in soft ground of a harvested crop field away from localities, bending above so that those made an arch. A number of such bent branches had to be joined by other branches in straight lines all over the arch. Then long stacks of paddy stalks were spread all over to make a roof. Even such stalks were thickly spread on the soft ground to make a warm bed on which the picnickers could sleep after the long night’s food festival.
Thus winter brought so much fun and enjoyment to rural people. But without their finer entertainment in the shape of jatra, kabi gan and circus the round of festivities was incomplete. Today many of these have become a thing of the past. With the invasion of electronic gadgets, smartphones in particular, rural youths have also lost touch with their traditional ways of entertainment and cultural moorings.
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