As visitors who travel to Sri Lanka in mid April would realize, the national New Year is celebrated in a big way by the Sinhalese and Hindu communities. The eve of the New Year is marked by the sun moving from the house of Pisces to the Aries and the specific time for the beginning of the New Year is determined by the astrologers at the beginning of the calendar year. Those who travel to Sri Lanka at the time of the celebrations would be able to take part in the activities which include traditional games and the preparation of traditional sweet meets. When you travel to Sri Lanka you will see that the New Year rituals are observed in a grand manner in the Sri Lankan villages with everyone gathering into one area to take part and also observe the festivities.

If you travel to Sri Lanka in the middle or last two weeks of May, you can observe the very colorful Vesak celebrations. In your travel to Sri Lanka you will see that Vesak is a sacred day for all Buddhist, which marks the birth, the Enlightenment and the death of Lord Buddha. When you travel to Sri Lanka you will witness that like Buddhists all over the world, Sri Lankans celebrate the holy day by decorating houses and streets with lanterns and pandols. When you travel to Sri Lanka you will see that the more pious Buddhists opt to spend the day in meditation and other religious activities in the temples.

Travel to Sri Lanka in August and witness one of the most popular tourist attractions by visiting Kandy for the Esala Perahera. This much celebrated and colorful procession is held in the month of Esala (August). When you travel to Sri Lanka you will see that the significance of the procession is the Sacred Tooth Relic of Lord Buddha, which was brought to Sri Lanka over four hundred years ago and was placed in its present location, the ‘Dalada Maligawa’ (temple of the sacred tooth relic). When you travel to Sri Lanka you will see that the sacred tooth relic, which is a living memory of Lord Buddha is considered the most precious possession of Buddhists the world over.