The festival Ekushey is celebrated on the 21st day of February every year, Ekushey is known as the National Mother Language Day and has been declared the International Mother Language Day by UNESCO. February 21st of every year is observed throughout the country in remembrance of the martyrs of the Language Movement of 1952. Blood was shed on this day in the Central Shahid Minar area to establish Bangla as a state language of Pakistan.
All successive movements including the struggle for independence owe their origin to the historic language movement. The Shahid Minar is the symbol of the supreme sacrifice for the mother tongue. The day is a public holiday. Mourning services begin in Dhaka at midnight at the Shahid Minar with a song that tellingly recalls the sacrifice of the martyrs. The events of the day include processions, song sessions, the placing of flowers at the Minar, and prayer at the graves of martyrs at Azimpur.
