Boishakhi Mela

The Boishakhi Mela is the largest Bengali festival outside of Bangladesh and serves as a vibrant celebration of the Bengali New Year. Since its launch in nineteen ninety-seven, the festival has become a central cultural fixture for the British Bangladeshi community in the East End. While the traditional New Year falls on April fourteenth, this London event takes place on a Sunday in May to better accommodate the unpredictable spring weather. It transforms the local streets into a massive open-air spectacle, second in size only to the Notting Hill Carnival among United Kingdom street festivals.