Sri Lanka, formerly known as Taprobane, Serendib and Ceylon has a multicultural significance. Sri Lanka is home to numerous ethnicities and their cultures. Because of this richness, the travellers who visit Sri Lanka are able to experience a vivid travel journey starting from Point Dondra to Point Pedro. This beauty of cultural mixture can be seen in the way people eat, dress, observe religion, marriages, their norms and customs and so on. As Ceylon was formerly invaded by Portuguese, Dutch and the British respectively, not only the local and indigenous cultures but the Western cultural influences are also visible across the island. Apart from that, the position that Sri Lanka has in the Indian Ocean has attracted the entire world as a high value commodity. Hence, since ancient periods foriegn travellers and merchants came for business and other deals. Moors came to Sri Lanka like that. Hindu influence has been received from the constant friendship that Sri Lanka had with mainly India and other South Asian territories. Sinhalese people claim the ancestral ownership of the land saying that their origin derives from ancient ‘naaga and yaksha’ tribes. In addition to the main four categories of ethnicities: Sinhalese, Tamils, Muslims and Burgers, there are other minority communities also who add beauty to the cultural richness in Sri Lanka. However,Vishmi Travels assures our travellers that irrespective of cultural difference, the hospitality the travellers receive at all places in Sri Lanka is equally amicable.
Religion
The main religions in Sri Lanka are Buddhism, Hindu, Islam and Christianity. The travellers won’t go without seeing an abundance of religious places and rituals. There are temples for Buddhists, Kovils for Hindus, Mosques for Muslims and Churches for Christians. These religions do not spread facism. They only ask for pacifism. The influence that each of these communities get through religions to adjust their ordinary routines is immense. From birth to death all the phases that a human passes are made subject to religious practices. Taking blessings at one’s birth, first day of school, marriage, girls’ puberty, and at many other such instances of life are common elements in Sri Lankan culture. In addition, there are other superstitious beliefs among hinterland people. People believe in spells and the devil, reincarnation, ghosts and so on. And, the religious buildings have been influenced by several cultural features. The temples, kovils, mosques and churches in Sri Lanka have a huge archaeological value. Majority of churches in Sri Lanka were built in the colonial era. Buddhist temples have been influenced by Hindu culture and vice versa. This is why Sri Lankan culture is a beautiful experience for travellers out there.
Dress code
This is one of the beautiful and quickly visible cultural differences that you can see, if you visit Sri Lanka. Sarong is very popular among the males across almost all the communities. The ancient Sinhalese women used to wear ‘redda and hatte’. Now, that trend is gradually decreasing with the influence of globalisation. Women wear those traditional costumes only at a traditional function. Saree is another popular and iconic dress code to identify Asian women. In Sri Lanka also, every woman wears a saree irrespective of ethnicity and religion. The most traditional dress codes are followed by Tamil girls and Muslim girls because they are not allowed to wear dresses that expose their body. The dress culture is totally different from the culture that was there a decade ago. Girls are wearing mini dresses, crop tops, bikinis (except Muslim and Tamil girls) and other fancy and new trend dresses. Trousers, shirts, t-shirts, and shorts are popular among males irrespective of ethnicity. Tamil girls wear a dot on their forehead (pottu) , wear earrings, and flower garlands which add beauty to their appearance.
Festivals
There are a plethora of festivals in Sri Lankan culture. Sinhalese people and Tamil people celebrate Sinhala and Hindu New Year in the month of April. Vesak, Poson, Esala are three paramount festivals for Buddhists for which the entire Buddhist community decorate the environs with lanterns and lamps. They organise parades, dansals, and religious musical evenings, go on pilgrimage to religious venues and observe sil. If you visit Sri Lanka in the months of May, June and July you can witness the aura of these festivals. Apart from these three poya days, Buddhists celebrate Full Moon Poya day in each month of the year. Hindus celebrate Thaipongal, Mahashiva Rathri, Deepavali. During festival times the ambience gets colourful with new clothes, music, delicious foods. This is common to all the religions. Muslims celebrate Hajj, Ramadan, and Maulid Al-Nabi. Christians celebrate Christmas and Easter.
Food and Beverages
This is something that travellers crave for when they visit Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka is world famous for spices. There are dishes made using those ingredients which are mouthwatering. There is an abundance of food and beverages during festival seasons. Milk rice (kiri bath) is a dish made by Sinhalese to mark good things. Katta sambol, malu embul thiyal, coconut roti, kurakkan dishes, maize, manioc, fish and seafood can be abundantly seen in Sri Lanka. There are endemic foods for each ethnicity as well. For example watalappan and biriyani are major dishes from Muslim community. Tamils are famous for laddu, pani walalu, payasam, pani poori, lassi and so many other dishes. Being an agricultural country, Sri Lanka has fertile lands. Tea, rubber and coconut are staple export crops. Tea is the main drink. Ceylon tea is world famous.
The above list is not exhaustive because there are other communities like dravidians and minority communities who add beauty to Sri Lankan culture. Sri Lankan culture is a mix of many cultures which makes your travel journey vivid and memorable. Vishmi Travels assures the travellers out there that you will be mesmerised by the Ceylon cultural wonders. It is inevitably vivid and unique.
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