SRI LANKANS  FESTIVALS 

Sinhala & Tamil New Year  

Sinhalese New Year, generally known as Aluth Avuruddain Sri Lanka, is a Sri Lankan holiday that celebrates the traditional New Year of the Sinhalese people in Sri Lanka. It is a major anniversary celebrated by not only the Sinhalese people but by most Sri Lankans. The timing of the SinhalaNew Year coincides with the new year celebrations of many traditional calendars of South and Southeast Asia. The festival has close semblance to the Tamil New Yearand other south and southeast Asia new years. It is a public holiday in Sri Lanka. It is generally celebrated on 13 April or 14 April and traditionally begins at the sighting of the new moon.  

Preparations for this great festival begins weeks in advance when families clean and paint their homes, buy new clothes and gifts for family members. A very important purchase is the new clay pot in which the milk will be boiled on New Year’s Day. Traditional sweetmeats such as Kavum (small oil cakes), Kokis (a crisp, crunchy sweetmeat), Aluwa (diamond shaped sweets made of rice flour), mung kavum and many others are also prepared in advance and stored in readiness for the great day. A Cuckoo bird known as Koha is in its mating season around this time and the unique mating call of the male is regarded as the harbinger of this festival.

Being a significant festival to the people of the sri Lankan, the Sinhala and Tamil New Year is celebrated with much pomp and fanfare. The transition of the Sun from the House of Pisces to the House of Aries marks the beginning of Aluth Avurudu (in Sinhala) and Puthandu (in Tamil) and is usually celebrated on April 14th every year. The whole island takes on a festive mood as people gear up for the upcoming celebrations by cleaning homes, shopping and making New Year sweetmeats, to begin the New Year on a joyous and positive note.

Mahashivaratri

Devotees of Lord Shiva across the country celebrate padmarajarathri (great night of Shiva) in the month of February with prayers and festivities. Worshippers begin their day with a purification bath, carrying water pots to the temple to bathe the Shiva Linga and then spend the day fasting and meditating at various temples. Some temples like the Sri Kaileshwarar also celebrate with dance and music performances to celebrate this important festival in Sri Lanka. This year the festival will be celebrated on 4th March.

Thai Pongal

Celebrated for 3 days starting from the first day of Thai (the 10th month in Tamil calendar), this is one of the important festivals in Sri Lanka 2019 where families pay tribute to the sun god for a bountiful harvest. The festivities begin by drawing kolams (rangoli) with rice paste in the front yard of houses and boiling milk mixed with rice, jaggery, and spices. The entire family participates in the festivities to pay gratitude to Surya as well as the cattle which play an important role in bringing a good harvest.

Christmas 

It is said that the very first celebration of this festival was perhaps introduced to Sri Lanka by the Portuguese who ruled Sri Lanka and then the Dutch who ruled followed by British who ruled. The festivity spreads through all shopping centers all over the island. Even the small wayside boutiques throughout the country come out with their small festive decor. Christmas trees decorated and lit up are a common sight in shopping complexes and every Christian home.

The 25th of December, the commemoration day of the birth of Jesus Christ, is a public holiday and at the midnight of 24th of December, all the Cathedrals, Churches and little Chapels all over the island become houseful with devotees attending the “Mid Night Mass” to celebrate in union with their fellowmen. Even Christians and non-Christians enjoy themselves to the fullest. Most non-Christians are invited to parties by their Christian friends and Christmas day finds people visiting relatives, friends and neighbors to share with them the seasonal cake and wine followed by a lavish spread lunch and dinner. It continues until the season ends.