Cultural Heritage

Celebrating the Sinhala and Hindu New Year

During the Sinhala and Hindu New Year when the performance of various activities associated with auspicious times have been successfully concluded, it is time for festivities and games. Even in the matter of entertainment hoary tradition plays a vital role. As such there are traditional games that are associated with this national event. They are both indoor and outdoor games and sports.

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Kataragama Esala Festival

Kataragama is a common place of worship for both Buddhists and Hindus. Hindu devotees fill the precincts of the Kataragama devale to participate in the numerous offerings and seek the protection of God Skanda, to whom the devale has been dedicated. Buddhists too partake in the 'poojas' offering 'pooja vatti' – mainly filled with fruits, and also conduct their own devotions at the Bo tree and the temple within the devale premises.

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Kandy Esala Perahera

The Kandy Esala Perahera is one of the most splendid festivals in Sri Lanka. With a rich history dating back to 235 years, it has held the beholders, foreign and local alike, spellbound year after year. Held in the month of August in honour of the sacred tooth relic of Lord Buddha, enshrined in the Temple of tooth in Kandy, it has awakened the muses of a great number of writers, poets, painters, and lyricists creating a vast literature around it. The celebrated English novelist D.H. Lawrence himself has described the perahera as a “perpetual fire-laughing motion among the slow shuffle of elephants.”

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