Kandy Esala Perahera

Sri Dalada Maligawa lit up at night for the Esala Perahera. 

Last weekend, the girls in the office, with some help of people connected to the NOC, organized a trip for all us to go see the Kandy Esala Perahera. The Perahera is a big parade with dancers and elephants which celebrates and honours the Sacred Tooth Relic of the Buddha housed in Sri Dalada Maligawa temple in Kandy.

The Intercity Express.

We took the Intercity Express train from Colombo Fort Station on Saturday morning in reserved 1st class seats. It was a lovely ride going through rural parts of Sri Lanka passing through rice paddies and coconut plantations before we climbed the hills, reaching Kandy in just under three hours.







Fast forwarding to the parade itself, we were lucky to have had someone arrange for us reserved seating under cover in the stands. It was a bit of a rainy day as according to superstition, whenever the Tooth Relic is taken out of it's room, it rains. Seems like the myth was holding true! We got to our seats at about 5pm to ensure they weren't taken and sat around waiting for the 7:30pm start. We snacked, chatted, and then got a bit bored. Because we were in the hills it got a little chilly too! Prior to the Perahera starting, the roads were washed water about a hour prior to the start. Then about half an hour before the start, the roads were washed again with a water and turmeric solution that is supposed to disinfect the road. According to Indian and Sri Lankan traditional medicine, turmeric is an antiseptic and is sometimes put on wounds. Who knew?! Before long, it was dark, and we heard the sounds of whippers - men and boys who crack long whips before the procession to signal the start of the Perahera.

Torch bearers walk alongside with the procession the whole way through lighting the way for the participants and the elephants. There are flutists, horn players, Kandyan dancers, fire spinners, and drummers interspersed with elephants carrying various relics on their backs and decorated with gorgeous drapery and lights. The Perahera repeats every night for two weeks ending on the Poya day in August with the grandest parade of them all. Because we saw the Perahera near the beginning of its season, it was lower key than the ones following it with more amateur performers - kids who look like they would much rather be somewhere else and many that looked bored to be there. However, there were a few performers who performed with so much passion it was such a pleasure to watch them dance with endless energy.

The elephant in the middle is the one carrying the casket in which the Sacred Tooth Relic sits. 

It was a LONG and slow parade though ... 2 hours with everything repeating itself about 5 times but with slightly different costumes and colours. They were kind of split into different segments depending on which relic was being celebrated but the performances that followed each relic (being carried by an elephant and it's elephant entourage) eventually started to look the same. At least there people were performing all the way - unlike at home where sometimes it's just people walking behind a banner in a parade or waving on an uneventful float.

Kandyan Dancers

The day after we visited the Sri Dalada Maligawa for Puja while the doors to the chamber in which the Sacred Tooth Relic is held were open. We got a glimpse of the casket in a very busy hall where many people were making their offerings and chanting. The girls walked me through how to make an offering to the Buddha with Blue Lotus flowers which entitled me to one wish after the offering. I'm not telling what it is!


Fast forward to the next day ...

So I didn't plan any celebrations for my birthday and kept it pretty low key. Sri Lankans party pretty hard and I was not up to that task for my birthday so I didn't really put it out there. So what do I mean by party hard? In line with the habit of eating dinner late, say, not until 9 or 10pm, they don't head to the clubs/bars until well after midnight. It's common not to get to a club until 1am or 2am then stay until 4 or 5am! For those of you who know me well, I love my sleep and it's hard pressed to find me up that late. Usually at that hour I might be waking up to go snowboarding in the winter...

My Birthday cookies. 

I did do a small celebration with the girls at the office. Here, it's customary that when you celebrate something, you bring the celebration! Knowing that I wouldn't be able to just buy a birthday cake because of my egg and dairy intolerances, I baked some birthday cookies instead. They were a sugar cookie, dipped on one side with lime flavoured icing and topped with dried coconut. The girls gave me a lovely card and some gift certificates to spend at ODEL (yay!). I think the highlight though was when Dinushi said she would love to open a cookie shop with me. ;)