Chapter XIV · 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 venaṭuru

Ẹhẹla kanu liyalana turu

Gerandianta aṇ enaturu

Ekasiya vissaṭa 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 Ẹhẹla 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 (wẹtake), Suffa acutangula (wẹtakolu), Evolvulus alsinoides (Vishnu-krânti), Aristolochia indica (sapsanda), Crinum zeylanicum (godamânel), roots of citron (nasnâranmul), root of Aegle marmelos (belimul), stalk of lotus, (nelum danḍu), Plectranthus zeylanicus (irivériya), Cissompelos convolvulus (gẹtaveni-vẹl) 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.

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.