I wish you all a happy and a peaceful new year, which brings you, the courage and the determination to overcome hardships.
Following is an extract from 'The Island' by W. T. A. Leslie Fernando.
The Sinhalese have celebrated New Year from time immemorial. Robert Knox writes that during his time New Year was a major festival of the Sinhalese and it was celebrated in March. It could be that during the latter part of the Kandyan rule, the Nayakkar Kings who gave royal patronage to New Year shifted the festival to April to fall in line with Tamil New Year called "Pudu Varsham".
Earlier the Sinhala and Tamil New Year was celebrated mainly by the Buddhists and the Hindus in our country. Now Christians too participate in New Year celebrations and it has become almost a national festival.
The "cukoo" call of the ‘Koha’ during the harvesting time of Maha, the major rice crop in Sri Lanka, reminds that the New Year is approaching. And the beautiful Erobodu flowers begin to blossom. The bounties of farmers begin to fill. Nature brings the message and people prepare for this annual festival celebrated all over the country.
New Year observances commence with the Sun entering the asterism of Aries. The rituals begin with the observance "Nonagathe" where people stop all work and go to the temple for religious rituals.
The festivities begin with the lighting of hearth at the auspicious time. The whole family then clad in new clothes in the lucky colour eat together the first meal also at the auspicious time. They next exchange gifts and are pardoned by elders for their lapses in the past.
The festivities end with the anointing of the oil ceremony, where at the auspicious hour an elder annoints the young with oil invoking the blessings of Gods. There are also auspicious times set apart to go to work in the New Year and to watch the New Moon.
Whatever the origins New Year is not a Buddhist festival, though the Buddhists go to the temple at the Nonagathe time. Strictly speaking there is no place for auspicious times in the Buddhist doctrine. The major Buddhist festivals are Wesak, Poson and Esala. Besides Buddhist festivals are held on poya days based on Lunar observances. New year is a solar festival commencing with the entry of the Sun to the zodiac of Aries.
New year also cannot be classified as a Hindu festival for it is not celebrated all over the Hindu world. It is a national festival of Tamils and some others in South India. The Andras, Kannadigas and Malayalis though Hindus do not observe it. Those Hindus in North India and the Himalayan region have their own dates for the New Year. According to Dr. P. Poolagasingham it is a misnomer to call Tamil New Year as Hindu New Year.
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