Next: 21 Feb 2027
Ekushey February
Language Martyrs' Day in Bangladesh, kept at dawn barefoot in black, or in white with a black border.
What is worn for Ekushey February
Ekushey February, 21 February, is Language Martyrs' Day in Bangladesh, in memory of those killed in Dhaka in 1952 while demanding that Bengali be a state language. The day is also observed as International Mother Language Day, a UNESCO day. At midnight and before dawn people walk barefoot in a procession, the prabhat feri, to the Shaheed Minar, the memorial in Dhaka, to lay flowers. The usual dress is black, in mourning, or white. Women commonly wear a white or black saree, or a white saree with a black border, in plain cotton, and men wear a black or white panjabi. Black badges are also worn. It is a day of quiet remembrance, not of decorated cloth.
The sarees
Written by the EveryPallu desk with AI assistance. Background: "International Mother Language Day" on Wikipedia. Customs differ from place to place and family to family. If this is your tradition and we have it wrong, tell us.
Photo credits on this page
The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.
- Tant sari: Billjones94, CC BY-SA 4.0, source