Dr. Muhammad Mahtab Hossain Mazed

Wednesday 1st January 2025 The first day of the new year. New year means new year. Goodbye 2024 for one more year. As soon as the clock touches 12 o'clock in the night, Bangladesh will welcome the new year 2025 along with the whole world by forgetting all the sorrows and pains. Time is like a flowing stream.

Time can never be bound. So one by one the pages of the calendar are turned over, days, months, years, ages after ages. In the cycle of time, turning the pages of the calendar, a new year 2025 appeared on the doorstep. Happy English New Year! Almost all countries of the world celebrate it in a festive mood. Some nations such as Chinese, Jews, Muslims etc. observe New Year according to their respective calendarsCountries that use the Gregorian calendar usually celebrate New Year on January 1. Historically, the new year in the Roman calendar began on March 1. Its effect is seen over several months of the year. In Latin, September means seven, October eight, November nine and December tenAt that time, the new session of the Roman government started from January. Julius Caesar changed this calendar in 47 BC and created the Julian calendar. This was followed by one change in 44 BC by the consul Mark Antony, followed by another change in 8 BC by Emperor Apostus Caesar. The last pope, Gregory 13, changed the calendar to its current structure in 1582. Happy English New Year! English New Year on January 1, which is celebrated in pomp today, was not the case even 2,000 years ago. Even the day-date year. Those histories can be seen back.

A civilization arose in Mexico in Central America. From the fifth century BC, the development of this civilization reached such a level that it is surprising. Very surprising. The name of this civilization is 'Maya' civilization. Hieroglyphic writing is one of the many unique feats of the Maya civilization. Recently this incomprehensible script has been deciphered. As a result, a lot of new information about the Maya has come to light. Maya's accurate knowledge of numerology, extraordinary ability to observe the movements of the planets and stars, the multifarious etymology of architecture and art amaze us with wonder. The Mayans discovered that it takes the earth 365 days to orbit the sun. In exact judgment this calculation was 365-2420 days. They divided this period into 18 months. The number of days in each month was 20. It is said that the calendar he invented around 750 BC had 300 days. These 300 days were divided into 10 equal parts to make 30 day-number months. Which is the average day of today's month. It may be called the Romulus Calendar. The first starting month in this Roman calendar was 'Martius', i.e. today's March. This month is named after the Roman god of war. March 1 was the first day of the beginning of the year. Julius Caesar made some revisions to this calendar in the first century BC. Famous astronomers of the time helped him in this regard. In this calendar, the Earth's solar orbit is 365 days. But keeping the year as 365 days, extra days (1-4 days) are added to the month of February every four years. Then the days of February are 28 to 29 days. This extra day is called a 'leap' day. And the year is 'Lipier'. This calendar was known as 'Julian Calendar'. This calendar was in operation for many years. After a long time, a new calendar was introduced in the market after revising this Julian calendar. In 1577, His Holiness Pope Gregory XIII created the old calendar known as the Gregorian calendar with the help of two astronomers.

There are currently three calendars in use in our country and they are Hijri calendar, Bengali calendar and English calendar. The Hijri year has been in use since the day Islam appeared here. This Hijri year is accepted as the holy year of Muslims. Beloved Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam migrated from Makkah Mukarramah to Madinah Munawwara in 622 AD. This Hijri year has made the horizon-opening event of Islamic history unforgettable. During the caliphate of Hazrat Umar RadiAllahu Tayala Anhur in 639 AD, 17 years of Hijrah was initiated by him. As far as is known, it was from the following year that the systematic propagation of Islam began in Bangladesh - and then the middle part of the caliphate of the second caliph of Islam, Hazrat Umar (RA). However, about 10-12 years ago, the news of Islam reached Bangladesh by sea. With the advent of Islam, the Hijri calendar also came to Bangladesh, because this calendar has different Islamic rituals, specific days of worship, dates and specific months etc. This Hijri calendar is currently the oldest calendar in Bangladesh.In 1201 AD, Ikhtiaruddin Muhammad bin Bakhtiyar Khilji of Sipahsala celebrated the victory of Muslim rule in Bangladesh - and from then on, the Hijri calendar was officially used in Bangladesh, which continued until the Battle of Palashi on 23 June 1757 AD. During the Sultanate period and during the Mughal period, the Hijri year was used in state affairs, exchanges and in all areas. However, during the Mughal Emperor Akbar's reign, a solar year taqid revenue or crop year associated with the seasons was introduced. It should be noted here that the Hijri year is a lunar year and has no relationship with the season.

On the orders of Emperor Akbar, in 1584 AD, Ameel Fatehullah Siraji, the year of Emperor Akbar's accession to the masnad, calculated from the fixed date of 1556 AD corresponding to 963 Hijri, the year he invented by bringing Hijri year to solar calculation is known as Bengali year in our country. These months are taken from Shakabd keeping the year of Hijri.

The month of Baisakh is fixed as the first month of the year. Since 1584 AD, it has been introduced as a year for the revenue collection of the kingdom by the decree of Emperor Akbar. In Bangladesh, the solarization calendar of the Hijri calendar is widely accepted and respected, which alone is able to place the people of Bengal as their own calendar. And then the English age came in 1757 wearing the shackles of subjugationOne thing to note is that in the rural life of Bangladesh, there is not much acceptance of the English language so far. Again, there is no use of Bangla son in city life. However, the practice of Hijri year is equally present in urban life or rural life. This Hijri year is one of the pillars of the unity and solidarity of the Muslim world. And the Bengali year derived from this Hijri year has brought glory of individuality to our national life.

In many countries of the Muslim world, the Hijri calendar is used as the national calendar due to its lunar calculation features. Even bringing the solar calculation of this year and bringing the Bengali year as solar, the Hijri year is prevalent there. Nowruz is celebrated in Iran. On the 1st of their own first month brought as Shamsi or solarization of the Hijri year. As Baisakh is the first month of Hijri solar calendar in our country, Farbardin is the first month there. Their 1st date of this month is 21 March. And our 1st Baisakh is on April 14.

In our country, the joy of Bengali New Year is celebrated in villages and towns, but the English New Year does not create much excitement except in a handful of special circles of urban life. Yet the English New Year comes. These three traditional New Year's opening moments are announced immediately after midnight on December 31, heralding the arrival of the English New Year. Although that moment of midnight does not cause any excitement to our larger population, Christendom at that moment bursts into a roar of joy with the chanting of Happy New Year. A lot of incidents happen, a lot of demonic activities happen, in the name of drinking, there is also practice of drinking life in many places.

The English New Year comes in the dead of night in the darkness of the cold winter.Since the English calendar has been used to date our works, to keep accounts, to conduct international exchanges, however much colonial flavor it may have, however much it may bear the yoke of almost 200 years of slavery, we must break free from it. Can't feel that's why we are personalitiesEven if we talk about the consciousness of being vigilant, even if we talk about uplifting our own culture, it seems to be a matter of words from the point of view of the situation. The English New Year is like that giant of Sindbad in our minds, that permanent settlement that sits on the eighth page so tightly that we can't let go of it. English New Year starts our new day reckoning, although correspondence is instructed to mention Bengali date, but is that also being done?

What we call the English calendar is actually the Gregorian calendar. In 1582, Pope Gregory XIII of Rome reformed the ancient Julian calendar. This calendar is known as the Gregorian calendar after this Gregory. According to this calendar, at the end of writing the date is A.D. (A.D.)It is written as an abbreviation of the Latin anno domini. This Anno Domini means in our year (oh जयव नवद्थ द्वाग गण क्ष्ट क्ष्ट्फ) i.e. AD. A Christian priest named Dionysius Ecmiguas introduced the Christian calendar in 532 of the Julian calendar, counting from the year of Jesus Christ's birth. All in all, the outgoing year was varied.

Finally, I would like to say that New Year means new life, new hope, new possibilities in everyone. Leaving behind the past year's happiness and sorrow, joy and pain, moving forward in the new year on the path of endless possibilities. And in the new year, it is not necessary to discard all the old things. Celebrate the new year with your loved ones in healthy culture and beautiful environment. Spread love and good wishes for people. Put a smile on the face of the sad people. Let's move forward with new convictions for another new year. Have a healthy new year with everyone. Let everyone walk in the new light in keeping with the change of day. However, let the coming days be full of happiness, prosperity and peace - this is the expectation of the English New Year.

The writer is a, columnist and researcher Founder and Chairman, jatia rogi kallyan Society