FESTIVALS.
The entering of the sun into Aries is celebrated as the new year's
day; the ephemeris of the year is drawn up by the village astrologer
and the necessary information for the observance of the festive rites
is obtained by presenting him with sweetmeats and a bundle of forty
betel leaves.
As the sun is moving into the sign Aries all cease from work
and either visit temples or indulge in games till a lucky moment
arrives when every family welcomes the new year with the strains of
the rabâna. Special kinds of sweetmeats and curries are cooked and
eaten, cloth of the colour recommended by the astrologer are worn,
calls exchanged, the headman visited with pingo-loads of presents,
and a commencement made of the usual daily work.
At an appointed hour, the people anoint themselves with an infusion
of oil, kokun leaves (swietenia febrifugia), kalânduru yams (Cyprus
rotundus) and nelli fruits (Phylanthus emblica) and an elder of the
family rubs a little of it on the two temples, on the crown of the
head, and on the nape of the neck of each member, saying:--
Kalu kaputan sudu venaturu
Ehela kanu liyalana turu
Gerandianta an enaturu
Ekasiya vissata desiya vissak
Maha Brahma Râjayâ atinya
Âyibôvan âyibôvan âyibôvan.
"This (anointing) is done by the hand of Maha Brâhma; long life to you,
long life to you, long life to you! may you, instead of the ordinary
period of life, viz., 120 years, live for 220 years; till rat-snakes
obtain horns, till posts of the Ehela tree (Cassia fistula) put on
young shoots, and till black crows put on a plumage white."
While being annointed the person faces a particular direction, having
over his head leaves sacred to the ruling planet of the day, and at
his feet those sacred to the regent of the previous day. For each
of the days of the week, beginning with Sunday, belong respectively
the cotton tree (imbul), the wood-apple (diwul), the Cochin gamboge
(kollan), the margosa (kohomba), the holy fig-tree (bo) Galidupa
arborea (karanda) and the banyan (nuga).
This rite is followed by the wearing of new clothes, after a bath
in an infusion of screw-pine (wetake), Suffa acutangula (wetakolu),
Evolvulus alsinoides (Vishnu-krânti), Aristolochia indica (sapsanda),
Crinum zeylanicum (godamânel), roots of citron (nasnâranmul), root of
Aegle marmelos (belimul), stalk of lotus, (nelum dandu), Plectranthus
zeylanicus (irivériya), Cissompelos convolvulus (getaveni-vel)
Heterepogon hirtus (îtana) and bezoar stone (gorôchana).
This festival is also observed at the Buddhist temples when milk is
boiled at their entrances and sprinkled on the floor.
The birthday of the Founder of Buddhism is celebrated on the
full-moon day of May (wesak). Streets are lined with bamboo arches,
which are decorated with the young leaves of the cocoanut-palm;
tall superstructures (toran) gaily adorned with ferns and young king
cocoanuts bridge highways at intervals; lines of flags of various
devices and shapes are drawn from tree to tree; booths are erected at
every crossing where hospitality is freely dispensed to passers-by;
and at every rich house the poor are fed and alms given to Buddhist
priests. Processions wend their way from one temple to another with
quaintly-shaped pennons and banners, and in the intervals of music
cries of sâdhu, sâdhu, are raised by the pilgrims.
The Kandy Perahera Mangalaya, begins at a lucky hour on the first
day after the new moon. "A jack-tree, the stem of which is three
spans in circumference, is selected beforehand for each of the four
déwâla--the Kataragama, Nâtha, Saman, and Pattini; and the spot where
it stands is decorated and perfumed with sandalwood, frankincense,
and burnt resin, and a lighted lamp with nine wicks is placed at the
foot of the tree. At the lucky hour a procession of elephants, tom-tom
beaters and dancers proceed to the spot, the tree is cut down by one
of the tenants (the wattôrurâla) with an axe, and it is trimmed, and
its end is pointed by another with an adze. It is then carried away
in procession and placed in a small hole in a square of slab rock,
buried in the ground or raised platform in the small room at the back
of the déwâla. It is then covered with a white cloth. During the five
following days the procession is augmented by as many elephants,
attendants, dancers, tom-tom beaters and flags as possible; and it
makes the circuit of the temples at stated periods. The processions
of the several temples are then joined by one from the Daladâ,
Mâligâva (the temple of the Sacred Tooth of Buddha), and together
they march round the main streets of Kandy at fixed hours during the
five days next ensuing. On the sixth day, and for five days more,
four palanquins--one for each déwâla are added to the procession,
containing the arms and dresses of the gods; and on the last day
the bowl of water (presently to be explained) of the previous year,
and the poles cut down on the first day of the ceremony. On the
night of the fifteenth and last day, the Perahera is enlarged to the
fullest limits which the means of the several temples will permit,
and at a fixed hour, after its usual round, it starts for a ford in
the river near Kandy, about three miles distant from the temple of
the Sacred Tooth. The procession from the Mâligâva, however, stops
at a place called the Adâhana Maluwa, and there awaits the return of
the others. The ford is reached towards dawn, and here the procession
waits until the lucky hour (generally about 5 A. M.) approaches. A few
minutes before its arrival the chiefs of the four temples, accompanied
by a band of attendants, walk down in Indian file under a canopy of
linen and over cloth spread on the ground to the waterside. They enter
a boat and are punted up the river close to the bank for some thirty
yards. Then at a given signal (i. e., at the advent of the lucky hour)
the four jack poles are thrown into the river by the men on shore,
while each of the four chiefs, with an ornamental silver sword, cuts a
circle in the water; at the same time one attendant takes up a bowl of
water from the circle, and another throws away last year's supply. The
boat then returns to the shore, the procession goes back to Kandy, the
bowls of water are placed reverently in the several déwâla, to remain
there until the following year; and the Perahera is at an end." [19]
During the time of the kings, it was on this occasion that the
provincial governors gave an account of their stewardship to their
over-lord and had their appointments renewed by him.
When the rainy months of August, September and October are over
and the Buddhist monks return to their monasteries from their vas
retreats, is held the Festival of Lights (Kârtika Mangalya). The
Buddhist temples are illuminated on the full moon day of November by
small oil-lamps placed in niches of the walls specially made for them;
in the olden times all the buildings were bathed in a blaze of light,
the Royal Palace the best of all, with the oil presented to the king
by his subjects. This festival is now confined to Kandy.
The Alut Sâl Mangalya, the festival of New Rice, is now celebrated to
any appreciable extent only in the Kandian Provinces, the last subdued
districts of the island. In the villages the harvest is brought home
by pingo-bearers on the full-moon day of January with rural jest and
laughter, and portions of it are given to the Buddhist priest, the
barber and the dhobi of the village; next the new paddy is husked,
and kiribat dressed out of it.
In the capital, in the time of the kingdom, this festival lasted for
four days; "on the first evening the officers of the royal stores
and of the temples proceeded in state from the square before the
palace to the crown villages from which the first paddy was to be
brought. Here the ears of paddy and the new rice were packed up for
the temples the palace and the royal stores by the Gabadânilamés and
their officers. The ears of paddy carefully put into new earthenware
pots and the grain into clean bags, were attached to pingos. Those
for the Mâligâva (where the Sacred Tooth was kept) were conveyed on
an elephant for the temples by men marching under canopies of white
cloth; and those for the palace and royal stores by the people of the
royal villages of respectable caste, well dressed; and with apiece
of white muslin over their mouths to guard against impurity. This
procession, starting on the evening of the next day (full-moon day)
from the different farms under a salute of jingals and attended by
flags, tom-tom beaters, etc., was met on the way by the 2nd Adigar
and a large number of chiefs at some distance from the city. From
thence all went to the great square to wait for the propitious
hour, at the arrival of which, announced by a discharge of jingals,
the procession entered the Mâligâva where the distribution for the
different temples was made. At the same fortunate hour the chiefs
and the people brought home their new rice. On the next morning the
king or governor received his portion consisting of the new rice and
a selection of all the various vegetable productions of the country,
which were tasted at a lucky hour." [20]