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Poila Baishakh, the Bengali New Year
The first day of the Bengali year, when traders open new account books and customers are given boxes of sandesh.
Cheeses for Poila Baishakh, the Bengali New Year
Poila Baishakh opens the Bengali year, on 14 April in Bangladesh and usually on 14 or 15 April in West Bengal. Shopkeepers hold haal khata, the opening of a new account book, and invite regular customers in for a sweet and a cold drink, sending them home with a box of mishti. Sandesh and rasgulla, both made from fresh chhena, are the sweets of the day, alongside a lunch that in many homes ends with mishti doi. Sweet shops prepare special sandesh in new shapes for the morning. The custom is shared across religious lines in both Bengals.
The cheeses
Written by the EveryCheese desk with AI assistance. Background: "Pohela Boishakh" on Wikipedia. Customs differ from place to place and family to family. If this is your tradition and we have it wrong, tell us.