Sri Lanka, celebrates a wide variety of festivals, ceremonies and events, and the festivals offer the perfect chance to witness and be a part of this beautiful country’s culture and traditions. Buddhist festivals in Sri Lanka, featuring dancers, jugglers, musicians, fire-breathers. Buddhist Monasteries/Temples are a great source of in-depth knowledge about the Buddhist culture, traditions, beliefs and values. All the values that you learn can be of great help to you in the future. You can indulge in any of the acts of learning and sharing. You may join the monks at prayer and you can also meditate or offering pooja alongside the monks to get connected to peace and solitude.
In Galle - at The Sri Sudharmalaya Temple many events take place all year long:
All Year round: Poya Day: Monthly Full Moon Poya day: Every full moon day is known as a Poya in the Sinhala language; this is when a practicing Sinhalese Buddhist visits a temple for religious observances. It is the name given to the Lunar monthly Buddhist holiday of Uposatha in Sri Lanka, where it is a civil and bank holiday. Full moon day is normally considered as the poya day in every month.
January - New Year Temple Light Decoration
On New Year’s Eve The Sri Sudharmalya Temple is decorated all around with lights, welcoming the start of the year with the same number of lights as of the year. For example in 2021 there was 2021 lights all around the temple, doors are open to all practitioners for pooja.
April - Sinhala New Year
The Sinhala and Tamil New Year takes place at the beginning of the Lunar year, typically April, where the whole island comes alive with colorful festivities and a vibrant spirit. In the run up to the New Year celebrations, Sri Lankans will prepare by cleaning and decorating their houses, making traditional sweets and desserts and spending time with loved ones. During the actual day, locals will adorn their best outfits and take part in numerous activities such as blessing their children with herbal oils, sharing the first home-cooked feast of the year with family, setting off fireworks and playing games in the street. The Temple opens its doors for worshippers as a special Pooja rituals will be held.
May - Vesak Festival
A week-long celebration, known as the Festival of Light, commemorates the Buddha’s birth, attainment of enlightenment and his passing into nirvana .It is an important religious and cultural festival begins on the full moon of the lunar month of Vesak, which is May on the Gregorian calendar.. You can see colorful lanterns and lights outside every Buddhist home, temple and shop, it is truly a mesmerizing sight. People hand out food and drink to passers-by on the streets and worshippers spend hours at the temples. Many Buddhists go to the pagodas in procession to pour water at the foot of the sacred tree in remembrance of the Buddha's Enlightenment, and they take flowers and coconut oil on their visits to the temple as two indispensable articles of worship. If in Sri Lanka in May, Vesak Poya is a wonderful and vibrant festival
June - Poson full moon Poya day
Holding both historic and religious significance, Poson Poya is an annual Buddhist festival which is celebrated island-wide in order to commemorate the arrival of Buddhism to Sri Lanka in the 3rd century BC. Although festivities happen all over Sri Lanka, Mihintale provides the grandest affair. The Mihintale rock outcrop is believed to be the place where Buddhism was first introduced in Sri Lanka after a meeting between the Buddhist monk Mahinda and King Devanampiyatissa took place. During the holiday, thousands of white-clothed pilgrims ascend the 1843 steps to the mountain peak temple to pray. Other activities during Poson Poya include lighting lanterns, cooking feasts and sharing with others and Buddhism teachings. There are exciting celebrations at the SRI SUDHARMALAYA , which come alive with traditions festivities
July - October: Wassana Recognized as Buddha's first teaching
Wassana also marks the beginning of the 3-month "Rains Retreat" for the monks who gather in monasteries during the rainy season for a time of study and religious discourse. Residing in their retreat during the rains, they continued to pursue their meditative quest and begged alms from local townspeople; During this time there is no major festivities at The Sri Sudharmalaya temple apart for the Poya Days.
November: katina Pinkama festival : pirith ceremony , dhanna
Katina Cheevara Puja or offering of new robes to Buddhist priests is a longstanding religious custom prevailing in all the countries where Theravada Buddhism prevails. Monks who have completed a period of rainy season sojourn are entitled to receive Katina Cheevara after the successful completion of three month period of rainy season sojourn a 2 day celebration and a series of special religious activities are held at the Sri Sudharmalaya temple.
Future Plans:
The temple is planning to build a meditation hall and offer sessions in English and Sinhalese. The plan is to eventually use part of the donations received in order to build the hall in the near future.
Humanitarian work
Blood donations:
As a practical service to people, monks organize blood donations in the temple. Those actions are to help save lives of people who are in need of blood transfusion. Help monks to save lives of accident victims.
Food sharing:
Hungry people who are in need of food and cannot provide for themselves can always come and receive a meal from the donated dishes.
English language classes:
Whenever possible and English language teacher is available, temple organizes donation-based English language classes. All age groups are welcome and this service provides support to children and families who cannot afford commercial schools.
Maintaining old age homes
Maintaining orphanages
Providing material, financial assistance and housing for needy families
Providing necessary equipment in case of emergencies ( accommodation, food, clothing )
Helping to boost the local economy by maintaining union companies
Improving mental health through Buddhist psychology counselling
Maintaining free kindergartners
Improving Dhamma education by maintaining Dhamma schools
Establishing accommodation facilities for relatives of patients at major hospitals
Maintaining houses for elderly monks
