The amazing influence of regional music further increases the rich heritage of the region. Baul singing is perhaps the most famous of all the traditional singing of the yore. This involves singing a folk song about God, and one can see the powerful emotions that such type of singing evokes. The singer has his/ her eyes closed, completely lost in the moment- as if in a trance. There are other forms of folk singing too like Gombhira, Bhawaiya and kirtans etc. The region also has certain influences of the Indian Classical Music and Rabindrasangeet- made famous by the genius all rounder, Rabindranath Tagore is considered to be a contemporary music option. In short, West Bengal has quite a rich variety of music.

Traditional dance forms like Chau originated in the state of West Bengal, where people wear huge colourful masks and dance.

West Bengal sees an array of festivals too, just like its other aspects. Durga Puja is the favourite festival of the region, witnessing crowd from all over the world. It is the celebration of celebrating the victory of Goddess Durga over the demon Mahishasura. The roads are overcrowded till the nine days that the festivities are on. This festival is a lavish affair for the Bengalis with elaborate tents (known as pandals) going up in different parts of the state and people buying new clothes and accessories exclusively for this time of the year. Other festivals like Kali Puja (which is celebrated during Diwali), Lakshmi Puja (celebrating in honor of the Indian Goddess of Wealth) etc. are celebrated throughout the year. 

 

Apart from the religious rituals and ceremonials the people of Bengal or the Bengalis have their own rituals in ceremonies like birth, weddings and even death. The Gaye holud is a part of a custom of the Bengali wedding and it takes place one or two days prior to the occasion. The Gaye holud is also known as the turmeric function during which haldi is applied on the skin of the bride and the groom for it is believed that turmeric cleanses, soften and brighten the skin, giving the bride's skin the distinctive yellow hue that gives its name to this ceremony. According to Bengalis, the weddings symbolizes purity, sanctity and other good aspects of life. During a wedding ceremony Bengalis do not opt for black colour for it is considered as the colour of evil whereas they prefer hues of red which signifies luck, emotion and fortune. Banana tree is used to decorate the wedding mandaps and the house for banana tree produces huge number of fruits at a time and so also the couple should be blessed with many children. A ritual known as Annaprashan is conducted for the babies when it is five to seven months old. This is just to welcome the baby to eat the normal home-made food after it crosses the stage of eating baby food pattern.