Sri Lanka Holidays to Try Out
The best thing to do is to try to visit Sri Lanka during one or two of its’ national holiday festivities. Sri Lanka celebrates a lot of those holidays that are centered on religious festivals. When it comes to celebrating during the Full Moon or what they call Poya, a Buddhist holiday when a great deal of restriction is set against serving and purchasing of meats, fish and most especially alcoholic drinks. There are a number of business establishments that close shops on the days of Poya. During the Sri Lanka’s New Year festival in the month of April, all government and banking operations are closed to respect and observe all the festivities. The same goes during the celebration of Vesak, a two day celebration in the month of May when the whole country observes the celebration and take some time off from work.
One of the widely celebrated holidays in Sri Lanka by the Tamil People is the Thai Pongal which their holiday to commemorate harvesting. The Tamil go on celebratory mode for four days in the month of January. This is usually celebrated starting from the 13th of January. The four days represent that final day of the month of Maargazhi up to the third day of the month of Thai.
This is certainly and definitely one of the most significant holiday periods for the Tamil people who are located in the country of India, Puducherry which a part of the Indian Union Territory and the country of Sri Lanka. The Harvest event that is being celebrated during Thai Pongal is called Makara Sankranthi, which happens in the wintertime and is celebrated in the whole of India.
The very first day of this celebration is the start of the sun’s six month journey to the north. The north is what the Sri Lankans call Uttarayanam. At the same time the first day coincides with solstice of Tamil where it is believed that the sun itself comes into the 10th house according to the Makkara zodiac or Capricorn. Thus, the importance of this Tamil harvest festival lies in the Sun’s contribution to a very fruitful harvest of agricultural products. One of the activities aimed at giving thanks to the god of the sun is to offer the first batch of rice cooked to him. The Tamil sets this batch of cooked rice solely for the Sun or what they call the Surya Maangalyam.
Mawlid is an Islamic holiday festival observed and celebrated in Sri Lanka. It literally translates to ‘the prophet’s birth’. Islamic Sri Lankans celebrate this as the birth of the prophet Muhammad which happens day 12 of the third month of the calendar of Islam, called Rabi’al-awwal. This was started by the Fatimids people with the celebrations being observed in lands and areas that they have control of. It was the Ottomans who declared the 12th of Rabi’al-awwal as the date of Muhammad’s birth. And since then, it has become the most popular date of the said event.