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Vesak becomes a multi-ethnic festival
Tamils and Muslims organise dansals and flock to marvel at the pandals
As the Vesak pandals are dismantled and re-packed for the Poson Poya celebrations later this month, there is a welcome realisation that the festival has become significant to Sri Lankans irrespective of ethnic or religious background. Sachithra Madushani, 22, a student from Panadura, said the fried rice dansala she went to in the Panadura, Eluwila area had been hosted by Muslims.
“It was very exciting for all of us. It was almost like we were celebrating Vesak as one group,” she said.
Afraz Hakeem
“The dansala was very clean and the people who organised it were very friendly.” About 500 people came to eat at the dansala, which served only vegetarian food. People from different religious groups were seen visiting the various Vesak Kalapa, viewing the beautifully lit pandals and trying to understand the Jathaka stories depicted in them.
Thirty-one-year-old Sri Lankan-Maldivian, Afraz Hakeem, who came to visit relatives living here, said he had a pleasant holiday and that all his friends and family members enjoyed the Vesak sights. “The best Vesak Kalapa was in Dehiwala, with all those little lanterns hung along the roadside. We even found dansals that were organised by Tamils and Muslims,” Mr. Hakeem said.These dansals were so popular, Mr. Hakeem said, that he and his party didn’t get a chance to eat or drink anything from them “because there was a huge queue of people awaiting their turn”.
There was a variety of food given at dansalas this year. Most of them served rice and curries, ice-cream, soft drinks and herbal drinks. Some dansalas offered chickpeas, cooked jak-fruit, coffee and even fruit-salad and dosa. Interestingly, one dansala — at the Maharagama junction — also gave a bag of raw rice and coconut to each person who came to eat there.
Colombo Municipal Council Food Inspector Lal Kumara said the Colombo dansalas maintained a good standard and about 175 dansalas were seen in the city and its surrounds. “Of these dansals, 70 served rice and 30 served ice-cream. The interesting thing is that most of the dansals gave mango curry instead of vegetables, which was unusual.
Nishanthi Rathnayake
“In addition to that they gave soya meat and dhal,” he said. Mr. Kumara said groups of inspectors were sent to six divisions to monitor the standards on all days when dansals were in operation. “The dansals generally maintained high standards but we came across some places where there were problems with water. Some dansal organisers stored water in barrels, and we advised them to use a water hose instead.”
Mr. Kumara too observed that there were dansals organised by people of different religions. “There were some dansals organised by non-Buddhists where people were offered ice-cream and bread,” he said. “There wasn’t any religious disharmony. Everyone celebrated together,” said mother of two Nishanthi Rathnayake, 34, in Borella.
She believed that this Vesak season would help to build the bridge between all ethnic groups. “Previously, we didn’t even hear of people making Vesak lanterns in Jaffna, and even if they did nobody was able to go to that part and see Vesak. But this year Jaffna even had a Vesak Kalapa, which is both new and good news to our people,” she said.
Thousands of people came to witness the serene sights and food given in the name of generous trust at the Jaffna Vesak zone, called Yapa Patunai Daham Amavai. The festivities were organised by the armed forces for the fourth consecutive year. Many of the spectacular pandals seen around Colombo are now being transported to areas such as Anuradhapura, Monaragala and Ratnapura to be exhibited for the forthcoming Poson Poya Day on June 23.
One pandal that drew admiration had some 15,000 LED bulbs powered by the sun. This was the first solar-powered pandal to be constructed in Sri Lanka and was made by the Youth Services Council in Maharagama. It was 20 feet high and was on display till Friday.
Lanterns were seen in almost every house in towns all over the island. “We made three lanterns this year and helped the village crowd to light oil lamps in the temple and its vicinity. It was a lovely sight and we enjoyed being together in harmony celebrating this great day,” said M.S. Krishnasamy, a mother of two from Polhengoda area in Ratnapura. May Vesak be a constant reminder that every person living in the country are one.
Inspectors rigorous over food checks
About one in seven of thousands of dansals around the country received warnings over bad sanitation and food contamination.
Although there were some 4,876 registered dansals, Public Health Inspectors’ Association Secretary Senerath Bandara said his officers had identified 5,773 around the country. Of them, 810 had been warned over poor maintenance and food hygiene.
“We raided a dansala in Balapitita, Galle, where 46 people were hospitalised due to food poisoning. However, there were 2,500 people who ate at this dansal and only 46 were subjected to food poisoning so we are not really sure if it was this particular dansal that ignited the condition,” he said.
Inspectors also checked 1,137 regular eateries around the country, taking action against 55 that had provided unclean food to the public during the Vesak season.
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