Sri Lanka’s Festival of the August Moon

From our Sri Lankan correspondent Lakshman Ratnapala, Chairman, Enelar International

MS08302015P_6The 2,000-year-old DALADA  PERAHERA paraded the streets of Kandy, Sri Lanka’s last royal citadel for 10 nights, concluding with the August full moon, yesterday, Saturday, August 29th 2015. Held every year in honor of the sacred Tooth Relic of the Buddha, the parade features scores of gaily caparisoned elephants, hundreds of dancers, drummers, acrobats, whip crackers and torch bearers. Thousands of foreign tourists mingled with a million local citizens along the sidewalks to view the magnificent spectacle as  cries of piety of the faithful reverberated among the hills ringing the old capital city.

On Sunday morning Kandyan chieftains in ancient regalia, marched to the Presidential mansion in Kandy, following royal tradition, to report to the Head of State, the successful completion of the annual event.

MS08302015P_2Here, the chief  lay Custodian of the Dalada  Maligawa (or Palace of the Tooth Relic) presents the report engraved in a silver scroll to the President, seen here flanked by the first lady and the Governor of the Kandyan Provinces.

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