Tomorrow is an extremely significant day for all Sinhalese and Hindu people living in Sri Lanka. It is because they celebrate their New Year Festival tomorrow. This year the event bears more significance than past years due to the current status of the country after facing the gravest ever financial crisis in history and recovering from the same gradually and successfully.
Sinhala and Hindu New Year is a cultural event that unites all Sri Lankan people and makes them act together at certain given times. This is the main theme of this cultural festival which is slightly mixed with religious activities. Some say it was introduced to Sri Lankans by Kalinga Magha in the ancient times. Some others say this festival originated in Sri Lanka. At present people in Sri Lanka celebrate this event on a grand scale.
This year, the debate on auspicious times has been re-ignited. Actually, religious leaders including the Buddha never instructed the faithful to follow auspicious times per se. Auspicious times are purely connected with culture and astrology. When it comes to Hindus, they follow auspicious times which are called `Muhurta’. The meaning is a moment. The term appears as early as the Ṛg Veda, where, according to Monier Williams, it means “a moment”. The word ‘Muhurat’ means an auspicious time. In Hindu customs, Muhurat is a time when planets are aligned favorably to ensure positive results. This is directly connected to astrology. This term has also entered the Sinhalese lexicon, particularly in the fields of arts and cinema.
This year, two groups of Sri Lankan astrologers presented two sets of auspicious times to celebrate Sinhala and Hindu New Year tomorrow. Buddha Sasana, Religious and Cultural Affairs Minister Vidura Wickramanayake very clearly stated that in the past, the Sri Lankan people followed auspicious times given by `Epa Litha’ and there were no various committees, groups, etc to give auspicious times for the Sinhala and Hindu New Year. Accordingly, Sri Lankans will celebrate Sinhala and Hindu New Year tomorrow according to the auspicious times mentioned in the Epa Litha. Rituals for the same auspicious times will be telecast live via SLBC, SLRC etc.
It is very pathetic how some astrologers tried to put people in trouble by doing two things. First they offered auspicious times which are not that people friendly (but those auspicious times can be followed because there were similar auspicious times in some previous years). Then they introduced a second set of auspicious times, confusing the public further. Those astrologers may be in two groups but they expected the same thing. Their objective was one.
Who does not like to see the entire country uniting and doing the same thing at the same time, wearing the same colour and looking in the same direction? Who does not want to see this happen? Maybe they are the individuals and groups who do not like to see people relaxing and enjoying themselves.
Sinhala and Hindu New Year is celebrated in this manner only in Sri Lanka (though it is celebrated in various other ways in countries such as India and Thailand) and there are certain characteristics in it. Despite the furore over the auspicious times, we need to protect those characteristics and the identity of the entire festival. To do this, we need to prevent various media outlets, trade organizations, and business tycoons etc from distorting traditional Sinhala and Hindu New Year rituals, sweetmeats and especially traditional Avurudu games. For example, sugar should not be added to the traditional sweetmeat `Kokis’ but now various traders and self-employed individuals add a lot of sugar to `Kokis’ changing its taste, colour and especially making it unhealthy.
A few years ago, there was a type of `sport’ introduced in order to destroy the essence of Sinhala and Hindu New Year. Women had to hold bottles of milk used to feed infants using their armpits and their husbands or boyfriends were required to suck milk from those bottles. Fortunately this year, all organizers of all Sinhala and Hindu New Year Festivals islandwide are required to obtain prior permission from Divisional Secretariats presenting all the items that they are going to include in their New Year festivals.
Moreover, the names of some games have been changed to reflect changing times and perceptions – Kana Muttiya Bindeema, where the derogatory term “Kana” is used to describe a blind person, has now been changed to “Vasana Muttiya Bindeema”, literally meaning “smashing the Lucky Pot”. Such measures taken by the Government will strictly protect the identity of traditional New Year games and other items that are included in New Year festivals.
One last thing needs to be mentioned. That is about shopping. The entire country witnessed how a large number of people did shopping during the past few days. They paid good money to buy various items, both locally made and imported, required for them, family members and relatives far and near. This means that they had money in their pockets to pay for those goods, some of which are really expensive. This tells a tale – that the economy is improving and people feel confident about spending on items other than the bare essentials.
