NEW YEAR CELEBRATIONS

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE

Monday 14th April is New Years day in Sri Lanka and is truly celebrated in style. Fire crackers start the day early and milk is boiled, kiribath made and lots and lots of sweet sugary treats adorn the tables of all Sri Lankan homes. Gifts of colourful traditional clothing are exchanged and everyone dances late into the night. 

Here at SEDA Vocational Training Centre it was no different, although we celebrated early, we celebrated with much laughter, happiness, sugar, and lots and lots of dancing!       

After a busy first month at the centre it was time to put down the scissors and glue, leave the envelopes and bags aside; now it was time for the young trainees to let their hair down and have some fun. The centre was awakened at 9am with a rainbow of brightly coloured tradition sarongs and skirts worn by all the trainees, accessorized of course with their bright orange uniform tops. It was a feast for the eyes and momentarily drew my attention away from the table full of sweet treats in the centre of the room!   

Before any sweet treats could be eaten the first event was the boiling of milk in a traditional clay pot fire. Now, i had to do this myself recently and it really isn't an easy task, and usually results in a pile of adults all crouched around the fire poking sticks and paper into the flames in a desperate bid to keep the flames alive. And today was no exception! Patiently the young trainees sat around watching their parents frantically bent on all fours around the flames as smoked billowed through the centre, i am sure they've seen this many times before! We all wanted one thing, sweets, so eventually the trainees moved forward around the clay pot fire, working together as they have been taught to do they quickly managed to get the flames settled and just as quick as they started the milk was boiled and fire crackers were set off....    

Finally the attention was drawn back to the table full of sweet treats, was it time to eat now? Well a few more ceremonial traditions were conducted and gifts presented to all the trainees and teachers, and finally the table was surrounded by sugar hungry guests piling plates high with cakes and traditional treats, washed down with lashings of sweet milky tea.... With all that sugar intake there was only one way to get rid of the energy, lots of games and dancing, and boy are these young people good at doing all that!!