Sri Lanka 4

Sri Lanka

Part four

Contiued with part three   here to go previous one

Food and festivals

Dishes include rice and curry, pittu, Kiribati, wholemeal roti, string hoppers, wattalapam (a rich pudding of Malay origin made of coconut milk, jaggery cashew nuts, eggs, and spices including cinnamon and nutmeg), kottu, and hoppers.

Jackfruit may sometimes replace rice. Traditionally food is served on a plantain leaf or lotus leaf Middle Eastern influences and practices are found in traditional Moor dishes, while Dutch and Portuguese influences are found with the island's Burgher community preserving their culture through traditional dishes such as Lamprais (rice cooked in stock and baked in a banana leaf), Breudher (Dutch Holiday Biscuit), and Bolo Fiado (Portuguese-style layer cake).

In April, Sri Lankans celebrate the Buddhist and Hindu new year festival. Esala Perahera is a symbolic Buddhist festival consisting of dances and decorated elephants held in Kandy in July and August. Fire dances, whip-dances, Kandian dances and various other cultural dances are integral parts of the festival. Christians celebrate Christmas on 25 December to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ and Easter to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus. Tamils celebrate Thai Pongal and Maha Shivaratri, and Muslims celebrate Hajj and Ramadan

Visual, literary and performing ats The movie Kadawunu Poronduwa (The broken promise), produced by S. M. Nayagam of Chitra Kala Movietone heralded the coming of Sri Lankan cinema in 1947. Ranmuthu Duwa (Island of treasures, 1962) marked the transition cinema from black-and-white to color. It in the recent years has featured subjects such as family melodrama social transformation and the years of conflict between the military and the LTTEJ339] The Sri Lankan cinematic style is similar to Bollywood movies. In 1979, movie attendance rose to an all-time high, but has been in steady decline since then An influential filmmaker is Lester James Peiris, who has directed a number of movies which led to global acclaim, including Rekava (Line of destiny, 1956), Gamperaliya (The changing village, 1964), Nidhanaya (The treasure, 1970) and Golu Hadawatha(Cold heart, 1968).

The earliest music in Sri Lanka came from theatrical performances such as Kolam, Sokari and NadagamP421 Traditional music instruments such as Bera, Thammatama, Daula, and Raban were performed at these dramas. The first music album, Nurthi, recorded in 1903, was released through Radio Ceylon (founded in 1925). Song writers like Mahagama Sekara and Ananda Samarakoon and musicians such as. D. Amaradevq Victor Ratnayaka Nanda Malini and Clarence Wijewardene have contributed much towards the upliftment of Sri Lankan music.I343] Baila is another popular music genre in the country originated among Kaffirs or the Afro- Sinhalese community!.

There are three main styles of Sri Lankan classical dance. They are the Kandyan dances, low country dances and Sabaragamuwa dances. Of these, the Kandyan style, which flourished under kings of the Kingdom of Kandy, is more prominent. It is a sophisticated form of dance/345] that consists of five sub-categories: Ves dance, Naiyandi dance, Udekki dance, Pantheru dance and 18 VannamP461 An elaborate headdress is worn by the male dancers and a drum called Geta Beraya is used to assist the dancer to keep on rhythm. In addition, four folk drama variants named Sokri, Kolam Nadagam, Pasu, and several devil dance variants such as Sanni Yakuma and Kohomba Kankariyacan be also observed. The history of Sri Lankan painting and sculpture can be traced as far back as to the 2^nd or 3^rd century. The earliest mention about the art of painting on Mahavamsa is to the drawing of a palace on cloth using cinnabar in the 2nd century BC. The chronicles have the description of various paintings in relic chambers of Buddhist stupas, and in monastic residence. Theatre moved into the country when a Parsi theatre company from Mumbai introduced Nurti, a blend of European and Indian theatrical conventions to the Colombo audience in the 19th century. The golden age of Sri Lankan drama and theatre began with the staging of Maname, a play written by Ediriweera Sarachchandrain 1956. It was followed by a series of popular dramas like Sinhabahu, PabavatT, Mahasara, Muudu Pliththu and Subha saha Yasa. Sri Lankan literature spans at least two millennia and is heir to the Aryan literary tradition as embodied in the hymns of the Rigveda.

The Pali Canon, the standard collection of scriptures in the Theravada Buddhist tradition, was written down in Sri Lanka during the fourth Buddhist council at the Alulena cave temple, Kegalle, as early as 29 BC. Ancient chronicles such as the Mahavamsa, written in the 6th century, provide vivid descriptions of Sri Lankan dynasties. According to the German philosopher Wilhelm Geiger; the chronicles are based on Sinhala Atthakatha (commentary), that dates few more centuries back The oldest surviving prose work is the Dhampiya Atuva Getapaday compiled in the 9th century.

The greatest literary feats of medieval Sri Lanka include Sandesha Kavya (poetic messages) such as Gird Sandeshaya (Parrot message), Hansa Sandeshaya (Swan message) and Salalihini Sandeshaya (Myna message). Poetry including Kavsilumina, Kavya-Sekharaya (diadem of poetry) and proses such as Saddharma Ratndvaliyq Amdvatura (Flood of nectar) and Pujdvaliya are also notable works of this period, which is considered to be the golden age of Sri Lankan literature.The first modern-day novel, Meena, a work of Simon de Silva appeared in 1905 and was followed by a number of revolutionary literary works. Martin Wickramasinghe, the author of Madol Doova is considered the iconic figure of Sri Lankan literature.

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