“Spring is nature’s way of saying, ‘Let’s party!’”– Robin Williams.
The Sinhala and Tamil New Year can be recognized as the biggest and most significant cultural festival in Sri Lanka, which is also a beautiful symphony of nature, tradition, and cultural heritage rather than merely a calendar occasion. Celebrated mostly on April 13th and 14th every year, it marks the end of the harvest season and the sun’s passage from Pisces to Aries.
Over the years, this festival’s link to nature, the importance of harvesting, and the development of customs have all been exquisitely portrayed by poets and writers. Hence, this essay offers insights into the cultural changes and continuing spirit of the Sinhala and Tamil New Year by critically analyzing how it has been portrayed in literature.
Before looking at the traditions associated with the Sinhala and Tamil New Year, it is worth examining how poets have described natural changes and the beauty of nature with the arrival of New Year. For instance, Arisen Ahubudu in “Magul Geeya” describes the notable features in nature at this time of the year by personifying spring season.
According to the poet, it is the spring that fills trees with colourful and fragrant flowers, and ripe fruit. It also makes people filled with happiness and helps them to be united. The personification can be clearly seen with the spring welcoming the impending summer and helps the sun with its duties in the New Year. In fact, the Sinhala and Tamil New Year is well-connected with the sun, and that is why it is also called “Soorya Mangalyaya”. So, using this notion, Ahubudu connects his work with the New Year.
Historically, the New Year was closely linked to the rice harvest, with celebrations centered around the first meal of the new harvest. Moreover, it signifies the end of the harvest season and the beginning of a new agricultural cycle, hence harvesting has always been a significant aspect associated with the New Year. This used to hold a great part in people’s lives when they were mostly dependent on agriculture, and there were certain specific customs related to harvesting.
Piyasena Kahandagamage in his novel “Ranwan Karal” describes these customs, by accompanying a young child who has never encountered these experiences related to farming and harvesting accomplished through manual labour. In addition, Herathhami in the novel emphasizes the importance of having the new harvest for the first meal of the New Year. Thus, Kahandagamage also depicts how the harvesting ends before the arrival of the new year, enabling people to use the new harvest to make sweets and get ready for the New Year.
His attempt to elaborate the customs related to harvesting can be identified as praiseworthy, since manual labour is not frequently used for harvesting nowadays, as it is now developed with technology. The title “Ranwan Karal” itself refers to the ripe harvest which is golden in colour and depicts the beauty of nature in the harvest season.
Both Sinhalese and Tamil communities contribute to the celebrations of the New Year, with a blend of traditions including special food, games, and auspicious acts. Throughout the years, these rituals have been changed and modified, and some of them do not exist any longer. As W. T. A. Leslie Fernando has mentioned in “The Island”, the new year rituals begin with “nonagath where people stop all their work and engage in religious activities.
When the hearth is lit at the auspicious time, they prepare “kiribath” as their first meal in the new year and eat it at the next auspicious time. After that, gifts are exchanged and women engage in either indoor games or play the “rabana”
Martin Wickramasinghe in his novel “Gamperaliya” describes how the children play one of the most popular traditional games, “pancha keliya in which some have fun by just engaging in it and others by earning some money.
Notably, Wickramasinghe also mentions a custom called “walan podiwala iweema” that refers to two or more families (specifically relatives) getting together and having a meal together. This can be recognized as one of those New Year rituals that no longer exists.
Interestingly, it is evident that New Year customs could be seen before and during the British rule too. Robert Knox in his novel, “An Historical Relation of the Island Ceylon” has written that the New Year was a major festival during his time and that it was celebrated in March. John Doyle, on the other hand, has described in his diary on March 10, 1815 how the palace was decorated with banana leaves and coconut leaves.
He has also mentioned about preparing two clay pots each filled with liquid medicines to send to the viharaya and the adhikarams. This, as he reveals, was done for the custom called “hisa thel gema” which, in simple terms, is anointing oil and turns out to be a custom of the Tamil community.
Up to this day, the Tamils engage in this ceremony before welcoming the New Year, while the Sinhalese, on the other hand, are engage in it after the New Year.
Looking at all these things, it can be said that Sinhala and Tamil New Year is indeed a major cultural festival celebrated in Sri Lanka, specifically during the spring.
The Sinhala and Tamil New Year continues to be a celebration of resiliency, rebirth, and unity, much like the golden harvest swaying in the April light. Its beauty has been preserved by poets’ poetry and novelists’ stories, guaranteeing that even when traditions change, their core is ingrained in Sri Lankan culture.
