The Bay of Bengal, The Ganges Delta. Barisal, is surrounded by rivers and waterways, small islands some with small communities, some uninhabited other than by the local wildlife.
The Bede people traditionally spend their lives and earn their living on the river, this has given them the name of Water Gypsy.
Similar to land based European gypsies and tinkers they are itinerant, traveling in groups, a couple of months here, a couple of months there.
Living in a communal society, with each family typically possessing its own boat; several families and boats together form a group.
Their society is patriarchal, the Bede men are often seen as lazy.
The women play a crucial role within the community and are responsible for a lot of the hard labour
Refreshingly for the subcontinent men and women enjoy complete freedom in choosing their partners. No arranged marriage in their community. No forcing the women to wear a veil.
They travel across rural Bangladesh for trade, typically building temporary platforms or live on boats or under canvas near rivers and lowlands, returning to their permanent residence after completing their trade journey.
There were an awful lot of cauliflowers being transported and sold, really good fresh produce, I was surprised, I did not expect this to be a vegetable grown in Bangladesh but apparently over 200,000 tons are produced annually.
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