How do I know Christmas is coming to Sri Lanka? Honestly? Because of the Christmas decorations available for sale at Arpico, the department store chain. The rest of the country doesn’t show a whole lot of signs of Christmas coming, which is not surprising for a country where Christians are a very small minority...
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So it’s Id-Ul-Alha, or Hadji Festival Day. We had outside food – Fahim’s mom had arranged it last week or so, I believe, and it was mutton biryani and curries. The chicken biryani we get from The Banana Leaf, a restaurant owned by one of Fahim’s uncles, is way better, but that’s only because...
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As part of the Festival tradition, we gave the new clothes we bought to everyone, and Fahim’s mom brought me into her bedroom where she had four shalwaar sets laid out on her bed – all not sewn, just the plain material – and she asked me to pick out which one I’d like....
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It was oddly quiet here last night. Usually, at any major events, you can hear firecrackers going off for hours. During Poya days (full moon days – major important to Buddhists), during any holidays of any kind, and quite frequently, for no reason that I can fathom. Sometimes it’s just random. But last night,...
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I mentioned in previous entries (May 2nd and May 4th) that Vesak Poya Day was a big deal. I even mentioned the lanterns and things that people do. There was even this bit on the news about Vesak Poya Day and all the different kinds of lanterns people buy and make and all that...
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There are religious processions everywhere. Major ones. Never mind that only something like 7.4% of the population is Christian – there are still major processions. Everyone here – or at least it seems like everyone – is very vocal about their religious views and being generally public about their religion. North Americans, or perhaps...
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