Suba Aluth Avurudda - Happy New Year!

සුහ අලුත් අවුරුද්දක් වේවා 

Suba Aluth Avurudda, wishing you a very Happy New Year from Sri Lanka!

April 14th marks the Sinhalese New Year, coinciding with New Year celebrations of many South Asian traditional calendars. The timing for each activity and celebration is determined by astrological calculations, represented across the country with a raucous of firecrackers banging for each and every auspicious time (causing confusion for the huge bats that start circling overhead!). According to Sinhalese astrology, Sri Lankan New Year begins when the sun moves in the celestial sphere from Pisces to Aries, symbolising new beginnings.

This is my third time in Sri Lanka for the most special day on their calendar, yet this week I have learnt so much more about the culture and traditions, getting to experience it all first hand. It has been a beautiful insight into the Sri Lankan celebrations and beliefs deriving from all actions on this day. From fantastic games in the community, to eating the sweetest homemade treats, to offering a betel leaf to your elders.

Earlier in the week we held our PMGY Sri Lanka New Year festival, inviting all the volunteers and students from our teaching and childcare projects. Sinhalese festivals are all about the messiest and funniest traditional games - eating buns on a string (no hands), balloon blowing race (blow until it pops!), finding a coin in flour with your mouth, blindfolded yogurt feeding and the famous balloon dancing. It was a fabulous day with all the kids from our orphanage and rural teaching projects getting excited and competitive with the clueless volunteers!

This morning started with a 7am weekend call (anyone who knows me knows that’s major early for me, but I was probably the last person awake in the country!), preparing for the New Year with the final shower and wearing new clothes. It is also traditional to wear blue on New Year’s Day, so luckily my latest purchases fit the bill! Thamari (my second Sri Lankan mother) has been excitedly teaching me all I need to know about the today’s traditions – proud that her suda duwa (“white daughter”) is able to join her.

We had a peaceful walk in the crisp morning air with the neighbours (and some curious monkeys) to the local Buddhist temple. The usual offerings were made; lighting oil lamps, burning incense sticks and offering freshly picked flowers to Lord Buddha; as well as the special New Year customs of rubbing sandalwood powder on the sacred Bodhi tree and receiving a pirith nula blessing from the monk (tying a white thread around your wrist whilst chanting a Pali pirith – the vibrations become engraved in the thread and carry positive effects to the body).


Even with the bustling New Year crowd, I always find visiting the temple such an illuminating and clarifying experience. After our offerings and blessings, we sat on a straw mat beneath the Bodhi tree, where Thamari and our friends began their chanting. In Buddhism, you don’t exactly pray to Lord Buddha, neither do you view him as a god. Instead you show your ultimate respect, honour and devotion to him and his teachings. The chanting is a beautifully hypnotic song floating up through the leaves and enveloping you. We must have been sat for over half an hour (I realised my legs were numb with pins and needles), so I took the opportunity to embrace the moment and practice mindfulness and a simple breathing meditation. It was fantastic.

After returning home, it was time to prepare for the next task – cooking kiribath ("milk rice" – simply red rice cooked with fresh coconut milk and a pinch of salt). But first, I had to head to the office (only five doors down in the volunteer house), first being abruptly told off for carrying my half empty water bottle out the house, which I had to leave in the garden and couldn’t bring back in until after midday to avoid bad luck! Beliefs are beliefs…

The auspicious time to start cooking this New Year was at 10:40am. The family will make two open fires in their home over cinnamon wood and dried coconut leaves, cooking rice in the kitchen and boiling cow’s milk in the living room, both in clay pots. They wait to see which direction the milk pot overflows, which indicates if their home will have luck and prosperity in the New Year – ours was lucky!

Eating begins at 11:53am (and not a morsel earlier), with a feast of milk rice, chilli sambol, fruits and sweet treats laid out on the table facing Lord Buddha. An oil lamp is lit and the man of the house traditionally eats the first bite, then invites the others to join. I think this part is well earned!

Another belief they have is offering betel leaves to your elders as respect, a symbol of good fortune and prosperity, bowing down to their feet. After wishing you Suba Aluth Avurudda (with a kind tap on the head) they will often offer you a folded betel leaf, which will include a small sum of money or coins. This is to be spent on something for yourself and your home for the New Year, which only means one thing… more shopping!

Hence the next part of the day consisted of shopping for household gifts, for yourself, so I treated myself to a very exciting lunch box and mug. I did need both!

And that’s my Sinhalese New Year in a nutshell, I’m exhausted now! It has been fabulous to witness the cultural celebrations, even if I only took part in a fraction. It brings together a strong sense of community and refreshing ourselves for new beginnings, which I think is remarkably important. It’s something that I have needed personally in the recent few weeks, which I hope to welcome in the coming days and onwards.

We wish you good health, success and happiness for the next year, no matter where you are in the world!