Main Events in Kandy Esala Perahera

The main Events in Kandy Esala Perahera.

The Permission

• Until the sound of shots for the start of the procession is heard the tuskers, drummers, dancers and other artistes are lined up. Permission for the start of the procession is granted by Diyawadana Nilame. All the officials Kariya Korala, Gajanayake, Kapuwas Vidanes, Kankanam Rala, Mohottala and Wattorurala greet the Diawadana Nilame and proceed. These traditions are carried out regularly

Sound of Shots in the Perhara

• It is the custom to fire three rounds of shots before commencement of the pageant. At the first sound the processions of the four devalas line up and move to join the procession of the Maligawa. The Second sounds indicate that the casket is placed in the Ranhilige on the ceremonial tusker. The Third sound indicates that the pageant is set off.

Kasakaruwo (Whip Crackers)

• When the procession parades the streets the first participants you see are the whip crackers. It is believed that the noise of the whips depicts thunder and lightning. There are thirty of them. They intimate the arrival of the King. Generally they are used to make room for the Sacred Tooth Relic to be taken in the procession.

Buddhist Flags

• To indicate that Kumbal Perahra and Randoli Perahahra are Buddhist rituals, Buddhist flags are taken in the procession. The youth clad in white cloth carrying Buddhist flags and their solemn walk is a spiritual and pleasant sight. The cool breeze from the Kandy Lake and the colours of the Buddhist flags add glamour to the procession.

Provincial Flag Bearers

• According to the traditions of Kandy era the provincial flags are added to the procession and at that time Nilames in charge of provinces carry these flags. This tradition could be seen even today. First is the Sun and Moon flag of Sathara Koralaya, second the white flag of Matale, third the Silk flag of Sathara Koralaya,second the white flag of Matale, third the Silk flag of Sabaragamuwa, fourth the mythical bird of Thun Koralaya,the flag of the Peacock of Uva Walapane and the flag of the Lotus Flower of Uda Palatha taken in the Procession.

Sword Carriers

• From the time, the Sacred Tooth Relic arrived in Sri Lanka and established in the temple it faced so many hostilities and hazards. However the swords which were raised to prevent these hostilities are remembered by the feature of these sword bearers in the procession. They walk with raised swords along the path of the procession of the Sacred Tooth Relic. They do not perform any dance but walk.

Fire Ball Dancers

• The glow of lightning is magnificently shown by these Fire Ball Dancers. Turning of the Fire Balls is called 'Pandampaliya' which drives darkness of the night illuminating the procession.This Fire Ball Display is dangerous but with a balanced mind and body it is a simple exercise.

Peramune Rala (Front Runner)

• Traditionally after the whip crackers comes the Peramune Rala on a tusker with his set of documents of tailpots containing the religious activities of procession of the Sacred Tooth Relic as well the duties with regard to the properties of the temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic. This set of documents should be taken with both of his hands.He wears a white costume and a triangular hat(Thuppottiya).

First Hewisi Group

• They come behind the tusker with the Peramune Rala (Front Runner). They are the first four Hewisi Players of the Temple. Their Presence in the front of the procession is a tradition. They Perform with a majestic skill.

Gajanayake Nilame

• He is in charge of the group of tuskers of the King. Symboling this Gajanayaka Nilame walks as if he is in charge of the Elephants and tuskers who walk as if he is in charge of all the Elephants and tuskers who walk in the procession. As a tradition Diyawadana Nilame hands over a Goad to Gajanayake Nilame. He carries this pointing it to the sky and walks majestically dressed in a colourful costume.

Drummers

• These hereditary Drum Beaters beat their drums as a religious ritual to the Sacred Tooth Relic. The procession consists of a collection of several generations of Drum Beaters who play the tunes pertaining to their own tribe. Start of the beat,Welcoming beat,Walking beat,Walinada beat are performed. These professional musicians perform with great respect and honor.

Horanekaruwo (Trumpet Blowers)

• Trumpet is a well tuned instrument and is to be mastered. It has been popularized as the sound of Dalada Perahara. The tune Gajaga Wannama is well played right throughout the procession.Trumpet is made with skills pertaining to generations. It is an essential instrument of the Dalada Procession. White dress red cotton belts and shoulder are parts of the trumpet blower’s costumes and bare chests.
  

Coconut Flower Dancers

• Coconut Flower is the symbol of prosperity. That is because they decorate the Punkalasa with Coconut flowers. The purpose of the Dalada Perahara is to wish prosperity to the country. To symbolize this, dancers carry coconut flowers in their hands. They perform a simple dance reciting verses changing the coconut flower from hand to hand.
  

Thammattam karuwo    (Thammattam Players)

• The drum tied round the waist produce the rhythm by beating with the help of two sticks. The hands and feet are free for them to dance and play the drum easily. Their costumes are made of white and red cloth.  

Esala Perahera Kandy

          The Kandy Esala Perahera (the Esala procession of Kandy) is the grand festival with elegant costumes. held in July and August in Kandy, Sri Lanka. This historical procession is held annually to pay homage to the Sacred Tooth Relic of Lord Buddha, which is housed at the Sri Dalada Maligawa in Kandy. A unique symbol of Sri Lanka, the procession consists of many traditional local dances such as fire-dances, whip-dances, Kandyan dances and various other cultural dances, in addition to the elephants who are usually adorned with lavish garments. The festival ends with the traditional diya-kepeema ritual, a water cutting ceremony which is held at the Mahaweli River at Getambe, Kandy.

         The month of Esala (July), during which period this annual pageant is usually held, had been considered a month of celebrations and festivity, both among Indians and Sri Lankans. Even from the lifetime of the Buddha in the 6th century BC, the Esala festival was held to commemorate the Buddha's Conception, his Renunciation and the First Sermon. Esala is also considered to be the beginning of the raining season (Vassana) when the monks commence their Retreat. Also, this month is considered to be the period when ritual performances to the protective divinities are held, (eg Pattini puja) as recorded in the text 'Pattini-Halla'. Being considered a 'chaste' month, the period is held sacred for the availability of water, hence prosperity. Several records have been left behind by dignitaries and other visitors to the island such as Robert Knox, John Davy, etc. The description of the perahara. These accounts provide much evidence as to the constitution and organization of the present day perahara. Yet many features seem to have been added and some changed to suit the time and the available resources and conditions.
Dalada procession and the social traditions are linked so much together; the month of Esala has been named as the procession month, because of the Esala feast. In the 18^th century at the time of King Keerthi Sri Rajasinghe the four Devala Peraharas and Dalada Perahara were amalgamated and were made series of Peraharas.
The procession is a complex procedure in which various customs are involved. The preliminary preparation for the perahara commences at the beginning of every year. Immediately after the Wesak and Poson pageants steps are taken to inform the owners of elephants the number of tuskers and elephant required measures of repair the dresses worn by the elephants and prepare new dress if required. Measures are taken to repair the required implements like oil torches etc and to fulfill the requirements to make the perahara a success. The astrologer attached to the Sacred Tooth (Nakath Mohottala) is required to prepare an auspicious time for pageant to be inaugurated. Later a meeting of state official and delegates of voluntary associations with the patronage of the Mahasangha is summoned to discuss matters pertaining to services to be executed to make the perahara a glorious event.


Kumbal Perhara (Kumbal Procession)

• The first procession of the Sacred Tooth Relic stars with the Kumbal Perhara. This is the first Kumbal Perhara shown to the infants to drive away Evil Spells and Illwill. It is a tradition that the procession parades the streets of Kandy for five days. But the Kumbal Perahara is popular and remains as an unfinished procession or a semi procession. The reason is that Nilames do not work in this procession. But the Drummers and Tuskers take part without any ceremonial costumes.

Randoli Perhara (Randoli Procession)

• This could be seen only with the procession of the Sacred Tooth Relic and parade the streets for whole five days which is a tradition. In the days of the Kings the Chief Queen of the Kings paraded in this procession in Palanquins. As the participation of the Queens was not proper to the procession of the Sacred Tooth Relic they were stopped but a palanquin is taken in the procession as an honor to the Queen. Today it is taken as the last item of the procession.

Maha Randoli Perhara (Grand Randoli Procession)

• The Maha Randoli  Perahara is the last Procession. It is the grandest event of the festival. The Tuskers come with garlands and decorated with ceremonial costumes. The Diyawadana Nilame adds a novel glamour to the procession by wearing newly stitched costume.

Valentine's Day (February 14th) වැලන්ටයින් දිනය / ආදරවන්තයන්ගේ දිනය.

       Saint Valentine's Day, also known as Valentine's Day or the Feast of Saint Valentine, is a holiday observed on February 14 each year. It is celebrated in many countries around the world, although it is not a holiday in most of them.

          Every February 14, across around the world, candy, flowers and gifts are exchanged between loved ones, all in the name of St. Valentine. But who is this mysterious saint, and where did these traditions come from? Find out about the history of this centuries-old holiday, from ancient Roman rituals to the customs of Victorian England.

        The history of Valentine’s Day–and the story of its patron saint–is shrouded in mystery. We do know that February has long been celebrated as a month of romance, and that St. Valentine’s Day, as we know it today, contains vestiges of both Christian and ancient Roman tradition. But who was Saint Valentine, and how did he become associated with this ancient rite?

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            ආදරවන්තයන්ගේ දිනය හෙවත් ශුද්ධවූ වැලන්ටයින්ගේ දිනය සමරනු ලබන්නේ පෙබරවාරි මස 14 වන දිනයේදීය. එදින සාම්ප්‍රදායිකව ආදරවන්තයන් විසින් සමරනු ලබයි. මෙම දිනදී සුඛපැතූම් යැවීම, මල් පොකුරු යැවීම මගින් තම ලබැඳියාව ප්‍රකාශ කරයි.ක්‍රිස්තියානි පූජකතුමෙක් වන වැලන්ටයින් තුමාගේ නම අනුසාරයෙන් මෙදිනට එම නම ලැඛී ඇත.

            14 වන සියවසේ අප්‍රිකාවේ රෝමානු පෙදෙසේ ක්‍රිස්තියානියන්ට අපල කාලයක් විය. ඔවුනට උදවු කිරීමද අපරාධයක් සේ සැළකිණි. වැලන්ටයින් නම් අයෙක් ක්‍රිස්තියානියන්ට උදවු කිරීම හා ඔවුනට විවාහ වීමට උපකාර කිරීමත් නිසා එවකට රජ කළ ක්ලෝඩියස් රජුගේ උදහසට ලක්වී මරා දැමින.

             ඔහුගේ දේහය මිහිදන් කර ඇත්තේ පෙබරවාරි 14 දිනකය. වැලන්ටයින් පෙම්වතුන් වෙනුවෙන් දිවි පිදූ නිසා ඔහු වීරයෙකි. 1969 වසරේදී ඔහු සාන්තුවරයෙක් ලෙස නම් කොට ඇති නිසා මෙම දිනය ආගමික ස්වරූපයක් ගනී.

             ශ්‍රී ලංකාව තුල මෙම සැලකියයුතු මට්ටමකින් සැමරීම ආරම්භ වූයේ 1990 දශකයේදීය. ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේදී මෙම දිනය ආගමික ස්වරූපයක් නොගන්නා අතර හුදෙක් එය සමාජයීයමය ස්වරූපයක් ගනී.

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Top 10 Valentine’s Day Love Messages

Valentine’s Day Love Messages.....

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If I could die early I would ask God if I could be your guardian angel, so I could
wrap my wings around you and embraces you whenever you feel alone…

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R for red, red for blood, blood for heart, heart for love, love for you, you for me,
me is you, I love you.

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I may not always tell you
What I’m feeling deep inside
The emotions and the feelings
That I sometimes tend to hide

But I’m really proud and pleased
To know that you are mine
And I hope that you still love me
My Darling Valentine

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A hundred hearts would be too few
To carry all my love for you.

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Our love is like a lovely bridge
Between your heart and mine
A bridge we’ve built down through the years
Just to our own design.

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Because each little wish of mine
You’ve tried to make come true
(On Valentine’s Day), I want to say
How dearly I love you.

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All the love that history knows,
Is said to be in every rose.
Yet all that could be found in two,
Is less than what I feel for you.
Happy Valentine’s Day

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Love is like swallowing hot chocolate
before it has cooled off. It takes you
by surprise at first, but keeps
you warm for a long time.

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Sweeter than chocolates,
Sweeter than wind,
Sweeter than just about everything,
You are my Valentine,
Happy I Love You Day.

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Love is the emblem of eternity:
 it confounds all notion of time:
effaces all memory of a beginning,
all fear of an end.

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Celebrations of the 67th Independence Day of Sri Lanka

Celebrations of the 67th Independence Day of Sri Lanka. - February 04th, 2015

Breadfruit

Breadfruit

Breadfruit

              Breadfruit (Artocarpus altilis) is a species of flowering tree in the mulberry family, Moraceae originating in the South Pacific and that was eventually spread to the rest of Oceania. British and French navigators introduced a few Polynesian seedless varieties to Caribbean islands during the late 18th century and today it is grown in some 90 countries throughout South and Southeast Asia, the Pacific Ocean, the Caribbean, Central America and Africa.Its name is derived from the texture of the cooked moderately ripe fruit, which has a potato-like flavor, similar to freshly baked bread.

Ancestors of the Polynesians found the trees growing in the northwest New Guinea area around 3,500 years ago. They gave up the rice cultivation they had brought with them from Taiwan, and raised breadfruit wherever they went in the Pacific (except Easter Island and New Zealand, which are too cold). Their ancient eastern Indonesian cousins spread the plant west and north through insular and coastal Southeast Asia. It has, in historical times, also been widely planted in tropical regions elsewhere.