Festivals in Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka, having a history as long as many ancient civilizations, positioned at the crossroads of the East and the West, and being a multicultural society, celebrates a wide variety of festivals, ceremonies and events.

Every year on or about April 13 Sinhalese and Tamil people celebrate Sinhalese and Tamil New Year Festival, Christians celebrate Easter. Christmas is celebrated in December. Esala Perahera (A-suh-luh peh-ruh-ha-ruh) is a grand festival in the month of Esala held in Sri Lanka.[1] Happening in July or August in Kandy, it has become a unique symbol of Sri Lanka. It is a Buddhist festival consisting of dances and richly decorated elephants. There are fire-dances, whip-dances, Kandyan dances and various other cultural dances. The elephants are usually adorned with lavish garments. The festival ends with the traditional 'diya-kepeema'. The elephant is paraded around the city carrying a casket venerated by Buddhists as bearing the Relic of the tooth of the Buddha.