Fairs & Festivals :-
Sri Lanka, the tiny teardrop-shaped island, offers a diverse range of experiences, from world-class cultural and historical sites to palm-arrayed beaches, lush tea plantations, and stunning wildlife-filled national parks. The ‘pearl of the Indian Ocean' is also a land of infinite festivals and activities celebrating all aspects of life. It is home to the world's four major religions. As a result, there are a lot more public holidays each year – 25 to be exact! A number of these holidays are celebrations that can be enjoyed by all.
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Galle Literary Festival: The Galle Literature Festival, which kicks off the festival season in January, is an annual affair. The event attracts some of the most well-known names in literature, including Richard Dawkins, Joanna Trollope, and Meera Syal, and is regarded as one of the best literary festivals in the world. Local writers from Sri Lanka are also featured.
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Duruthu Perahera: This grand procession in the month of January (Duruthu), which marks the beginning of the Buddhist calendar in Sri Lanka, is one of the greatest & most glorious cultural traditional festivals in Sri Lanka, attended with great enthusiasm by devotees and tourists alike. Duruthu Perahera, a three-day festival commemorating Gautam Buddha's first visit to the country 2500 years ago, is held at Kelaniya Raja Maha Viharaya.
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Thai Pongal: Surya (the sun god), Indra (the rain god), and the cow are honoured during this Hindu festival. Food is prepared first from the brand-new harvest in milk, in a special jar, in temples to commemorate the occasion. When the boiling preparation is turned over, it is said to decide the rest of the year's fortune. Rice paste or powder is used to make kolams or rangolis in front of the buildings.
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Nallur Festival: The Nallur Festival, which takes place over a 25-day period as a tribute to Lord Murugan, attracts people from all over the world to the Nallur Kandaswamy Kovil. To commemorate the festival and demonstrate devotion to Lord Murugan, the deity, seated in a gleaming silver throne, is carried in a massive chariot by devotees chanting "Aro Hara'' around the town.
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Navam Maha Perahara: The festival is held every year in Colombo and takes the form of a pageant in which hundreds of elephants are decorated with glamorous materials and paraded through the city's streets. Elephants aren't the only ones taking over the streets; there are also a slew of singers, drummers, musicians, acrobats, and flamethrowers.
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Independence day: Sri Lanka gained independence from colonial rule on February 4, 1948. Every year, the entire country celebrates this auspicious day with ceremonies and parades. Military parades, flag-hoisting ceremonies, firework displays, cannon fire shows, and cultural performances can all be seen while visiting the country.
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Vesak Poya: The aim of Vesak is to honour Gautam Buddha on the occasion of his birth, enlightenment, and death, all of which are believed to have occurred on the same day. The festival starts on a full moon day and lasts up to a week, with colourful lanterns called Vesak kudu, which depict the light of Buddha, filling every house, path, and store. Throughout the festivities, cities are illuminated by lit-up pandals showing intricate panels from the Jataka tales, while villages are lit up by tiny clay lamps. People organise a variety of religious activities during Vesak, such as Bodhi Poojas, Dansalas (free food distribution at roadside stalls), Sil promotions, singing of Bhakti Gee or devotional songs, and lantern lighting (Vesak Kudu).
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Aluth Avurudda (Sri Lankan New Year Festival): The Sri Lankan New Year is held in April and is observed throughout the world. New Year is perhaps the most important festival of the year, with many ceremonies aimed at bringing happiness and prosperity to the country and its citizens.
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Kandy Esala Poya Perahera: The Festival of the Tooth honours Buddha's holy tooth relic, which is housed in Kandy's famous temple. Every day for a week, a dazzling procession of traditional singers, drummers, and elephants dressed in rich finery march through the streets of the city. Every day for a week, a dazzling procession of traditional singers, drummers, and elephants dressed in rich finery march through the streets of the capital. The last night's hype, fervour, and celebrations must be seen to be believed.
Cuisine :-
Sri Lankan cuisine, like the island itself, is a reflection of the country's rich past and full of delightful surprises. Every food, from main courses to desserts and cakes, uses the country's abundance of fresh spices, which are characterised by vivid colours and fragrant aromas. The fiery curries, sweet caramelised onion in seeni sambol (onion relish), and sour lime pickle are all strong flavours that startle awake senses dulled by the dense, hot island air.
Rice is a constant antidote to these powerful flavours. In Sri Lanka, a meal is known as "rice and curry," a word that has become almost synonymous with food in general. Of course, there's rice, and there's usually a curry with a thin broth and big chunks of the featured protein (beef, pork, fish, goat, and so on), as well as an assortment of side dishes—anywhere from four to nine or ten, depending on the period and occasion. Rice is often placed on the plate first, and curries are chosen from among the other dishes, resulting in a jumble of small meals strewn around the plate. You eat with your hands, combining rice with some curry, rolling the food into bite-size balls, and popping them into your mouth.
This staple dish ‘Dhal and rice’ consists primarily of lentils, tomato paste, cumin, and other spices, and is the most basic and popular of Sri Lankan curries. It uses coconut milk instead of dairy milk, as do most recipes from the island, which is one of the most notable differences between this cuisine and Indian cuisine. The most common non- vegetarian dish is sour fish curry. This spicy concoction is a quintessential Sri Lankan curry that you won't find on any other menu, made with coconut, chilli powder, goraka (a tropical fruit that gives this dish its tangy flavour), and the firmest white-fleshed catch of the day.
Piles of yellow king coconuts line the roadside, waiting to be sliced open. Commercial coconut water comes nowhere close to the water inside; the real thing tastes clean and smooth without being sticky. But coconut isn't just for drinking: pol sambol, a scraped coconut flavour that differs in spiciness from table to table, is eaten with every rice and curry.
All tastes better when it's fried, even eggplant moju. This classic eggplant dish is made by deep-frying eggplant strips and combining them with all of the ingredients (onions, chilies, sugar, mustard seeds, and vinegar).
Kotthu or kotthu roti is a fried-rice-like dish made from flaky roti bread chopped up on a flat top with vegetables, meats, and/or eggs, resulting in tiny pieces of chopped bread replacing the grains of rice. Those same rotis can be folded around an egg, chicken, or a variety of other fillings to form a mini-wrap. It's a charming little package.
The famous dry salad 'Mallung' (Sinhalese for "mix-up") is made of shredded kale, scraped coconut (pulpy coconut bits), onion, chilies, turmeric powder, and salt, but the peppers and coconut protein packed into the leafy meal will leave you with no need for dressing.
It's difficult to go far in Sri Lanka without running into a sugary treat, thanks to the Dutch and Portuguese sweet traditions—and a little help from the British and Malays. Watalappan is the most popular dessert you'll come across. It's similar to flan, but made with coconut and coconut palm sugar jaggery. The dense, yogurt-like concoction made from water buffalo milk that's sold in disposable pottery all over Sri Lanka. It's frequently drenched in treacle, which is basically the sap of the kithul palm. The taste of treacle, which is more akin to a thick maple syrup than a light honey, is a great contrast to the cold, transparent curd, and the textural variations add to the appeal.
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