Bangladesh Culture Facts: Here's All You Need To Know Before You Go

Have you ever been curious about the small yet rapidly developing country of Bangladesh?

Bangladesh, like the many countries of the Indian subcontinent, is a cultural melting pot waiting to be explored. Bangladesh or Land of the Bengals is a small country that shares its borders with India and Myanmar.

It is landlocked on the northern, eastern, and western sides, with the shores of the Bay of Bengal at its southern oceanic border. Like many nations in South East Asia, its culture is influenced by India and one will find similarities between the two countries very quickly.

Being relatively small geographically and underdeveloped, the country of Bangladesh is yet to be put on the map when it comes to tourism and recognition worldwide. With the region being dominated by India and Pakistan, it is now time that the world takes notice of this country due to the immense strides it is making economically and politically.

Its culture is underappreciated and unrecognized for the most part. It got its political and cultural independence very recently.

In 1971, the country became an independent nation and ever since is striving to gain cultural and political legitimacy in the region and globally.

This article looks to explore and unearth the beauty of the cultural heritage of Bangladesh. After reading some interesting Bangladesh facts and about the culture of Bangladesh, also check France geography facts and Hawaii State flower facts.

History Of Bangladesh

Bangladesh, as a country, became independent on the 11 January 1972. It declared its nationhood on 26 March 1971, when its Awami League leader Mujib-ur-Rehman proclaimed the inception of the nation of Bangladesh.

This is why despite becoming an independent parliamentary democracy on 11 January 1972, the independence day of Bangladesh is celebrated every year on the 26 March.

The cultural history of Bangladesh goes much further. The Indian state of West Bengal and Bangladesh, which was earlier East Bengal, share the same cultural history.

The major dynasty that gave birth to Bengali culture as we know it was the Vanga/Banga dynasty. It ruled modern-day Bangladesh and West Bengal for around 1000BC. Until the 10th century AD, it was ruled by Buddhists.

After the first millennium, Hindu dynasties started to take over. But the inception of the Mughal rule in Bengal in 1576 paved the way for the rise of Islamic culture in Bengal.

People in east Bengal converted to Islam and the Western Part of Bengal was majority Hindu. After the British administration took over Bengal in the 18th century, they made the Bengal province their primary administrative unit, and Calcutta became the first Capital of India.

But constant communal unrest and increasing inefficiency in the administrative process of the region led to Bengal being partitioned for the first time in 1905 under Lord Curzon. After a lot of protest from nationalist leaders, it was departitioned in 1911.

The status quo continued until the 1940s Lahore Resolution of the Muslim League where they asked Muslim majority parts of Punjab and Bengal to be partitioned. Due to the overwhelming communal response to this issue, India was partitioned with the north-western part becoming West Pakistan and Eastern Bengal becoming East Pakistan.

The Hindu West Bengal became an Indian state. East and West Pakistan became one country with separated administrative and geographical units. Both were separated by 1118.46 mi (1800 km).

But East Pakistan felt financially and politically alienated by West Pakistan. There was no cultural similarity either apart from the same Islamic identity.

Moreover, due to constant martial law imposed in Pakistan due to the military overthrowing democratic governments, there was huge civilian unrest in East Pakistan. In 1970-71 parliamentary elections, Mujib ur Rehman of the Awami League won all the seats in East Pakistan, which would hamper West Pakistan’s authority over the region.

Mujib was a separatist leader and asked for an independent Bangladesh. Fearing secession, West Pakistan launched military operations against the separatists.

India played a significant role in the liberation movement and got involved in the war due to the influx of Bangladeshi refugees and trained the Bangladeshi rebels. India won the war and Bangladesh was liberated officially on the 11 January 1971.

It's a unitary parliamentary democracy. Its national animal is the same as India’s which is the Royal Bengal Tiger. Mujib Ur Rehman became the first Prime Minister and the current Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Wajed is his daughter.

Customs And Traditions Of Bangladesh

Bangladeshi culture is heavily influenced by Pan Bengali culture. It is pretty much the same as the culture of West Bengal with slight variations. The culture of West Bengal is dominated by Hindu traditions while the traditions of Bangladesh are dominated by Islamic culture.

The Pan Bengali festivals followed in Bangladesh are secular and are celebrated by people from all religions. Two of the most important festivals are Navanna and Bangla Navabarsha. Navanna is a harvest festival celebrated in November and December when the extreme heat of the humid country dies down a bit.

The festival is celebrated with traditional Bengali kheer made of rice, milk, and jaggery or honey. Bangla Navabarsha is the Bengali New year, which is a national holiday in Bangladesh.

It is celebrated in mid-April. Other National Holidays include the religious festivals of Eid ul Fitr, Ramzan, Durga Puja, Janmashthami, and Christmas. These are common festivals the same as in India.

Bangladesh’s two most traditional dancing styles are the Dak dance and Dali Dance. Both are warrior folk-lores in style. The Dali Dance is done with swords and shields made of bamboo.

The Dak dance is an amalgamation of various martial arts to promote Bangla warrior culture. Bangladeshi music is very similar to the music of West Bengal. They enjoy Robindro Sangeet and even their national anthem was written by  Rabindranath Tagore.

Their traditional instruments are also adopted from Indian tradition. They use the Sitar, Tabla, Harmonium, and flutes like Indian music. But to their culture the Ektara (Single String Violin) and Dutara (Double String Violin) is unique.

Bangladesh’s traditional sports are the same as India such as Kabbadi also called Hadudu Khela and is the national sport of the country. Bull-fighting and Gilli Donda are also popular. But like India, Cricket is the most popular sport in the country.

The culture of Bangladesh is most influenced by which ethnic group?

Bangladeshi culture, although diverse in its practice and composition, is dominated mainly by Bengali people. It is a Muslim majority state but is a de facto secular state. The culture is heavily influenced by the religious-ethnic group of Bengali Muslims.

Like many nations in the world, naturally, it is the most populous group that dominated the cultural landscape of a nation.

Religious identity was key when creating an Islamic Bangladesh formerly East Pakistan. Moreover the people of Bangladesh also equally revere their Bengali language. Therefore their national identity is through their loyalty to either the Bengali language or people’s religious heritage in Islam.

The vast majority of the people are Bengalis (98%) and Islam is the dominant religion (89%). Bangladeshi people predominantly speak the Bengali language due to this demographic feature and largely practice the religion of Islam. Therefore, Bengali is the official language.

Although many people wear the traditional Bengali Saree, one can see that a lot of women in Bangladesh wear the Hijab according to the Islamic tradition. Muslim men predominantly wear Pathani Suit and the Muslim head cap. But speaking the language of Bengali is revered as compared to in West Pakistan where people speak Urdu despite being Punjabis.

Bangladeshi society due to its religious demographic is slightly orthodox. But Bangladeshi people are in pace when it comes to reformation. Unlike Pakistan, it is a secular state.

Ethnic Groups And Official Language Of Bangladesh

Bangladeshi people are predominantly Bengali speaking, which is why it is also the state language. But apart from this lingual group, there are many other ethnic groups present in the country. Bengali-speaking Lingo-ethnic community is 98% of the population of Bangladesh. Then tribals consist of 1.1% of the population while 0.9% of the people belong to other ethnic minorities.

Bengali Muslims form 89% of the total population making it the largest ethnic group. There is debate over whether the Bengali converts to Islam predominantly belonged to the lower caste or tribal community.

But this is a disputed claim. The advent of Mughal rule in Bengal led to the increase in the Islamic population of the area. The indigenous tribal groups of Bangladesh are mostly settled in the Chittagong Hill Tracts in the South-Eastern part of Bangladesh.

These people mostly don't speak Bengali and predominantly follow Buddhism. The largest tribal ethnolinguist communities in Bangladesh are Chakma and Marma who reside mostly along the borders of Myanmar. Hindus form 10% of the Bangladeshi population and mostly live in mainstream rural areas and urban areas and are predominantly Bengali speaking.

The majority of people in the country stay in rural Bangladesh with 63.4% of the population residing there. Its a predominantly rural society with a dependence on agriculture.

Rapid urbanization is yet to be achieved. But 36.6% of the population resides in the urban centers of Dhaka, Chittagong, and Khulna. Dhaka is the capital of Bangladesh as it is the largest of the three urban centers.

What is the famous food of Bangladesh?

Bangladesh has a cuisine similar to India and is influenced by pan Bengal Cuisine. But it has its own distinct culinary tradition. Although the cooking style and ingredients are similar to Bengali cuisine, the diet varies a little compared to the Indian Bengal.

Since Bangladesh is on the shores of the Bay of Bengal and many rivers flow in the country, there is a heavy influence of seafood in their cuisine. Hilsa Fish is the most popular river fish in the country.

Bangladeshi people eat more rice as compared to bread such as naan or roti because rice grows better in humid conditions.

Therefore, Pitha a form of rice cake is very popular in the country. Since the country is predominantly Muslim consumption of beef curry and other red meat are common and pork is uncommon. Like Indian food Bangladeshi food is spicy.

Sweet preparations in Bangladesh are common to that of India. They eat the likes of rasgulla, kheer, phirni, and halwa. Overall, the country is worth a visit.

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