A festival that has stood the test of time
The traditions of the Sinhala and Tamil New Year brings people together to celebrate Sri Lanka’s rich cultural heritage
It is a small family-run home-based business. Slightly off the main Kaduwela-hanwella Road at Ranala, in a long shed behind their humble home, 50-year-old Pathma Ranjani sits at her 'wheel' turning out pot after pot, even waking up at 2 in the morning these days.
With Avurudu round the corner, the pace in their home has quickened and Ranjani likes to produce a certain number of pots before the other chores take her away from the wheel.
These are the pots that will take pride of place when in homes across the country, the hearth will be lit sharp at the nekath time of 7.42 p.m. on Friday the 13th, facing south, to the burst of firecrackers, while families clad in light blue and white attire watch eagerly.
As the flames licking the pot rise higher and higher and the pot overflows with boiling milk, the families will be confident of prosperity and abundance in the New Year.
Their labours over for the day, when the Sunday Times visits them of an evening last week, Ranjani is about to prepare their scrap dinner while her 55-yearold husband, W. Jayasena, is on his way out to cut a bundle of grass for the cow that they freed from the abattoir's grip.
As Jayasena tells us that the skill of pottery-making has come down to them paarampaarikawa (from generation to generation) and though it is laborious work they enjoy it, Ranjani quietly nudges him, asking him to remove his cap. Smilingly he indicates that he wears the cap while working but in deference to his wife removes it promptly.
That the couple work in tandem is evident even before they take turns to describe the art to us, the uninitiated. It had been Jayasena who saw not only his father but also his grandfather engaging in pottery-making in their home at Soodewila but it was only about 10 years ago that he and Ranjani decided to take up the business. Earlier, he had been a driver.
Ranjani, though was not from the same village, but when an Akka from her area married a man from Soodewila, Ranjani became a frequent visitor. It was then that Ranjani and Jayasena fell in love, with marriage and two daughters following.
When they decided to take up the traditional way that Jayasena's family had eked out a living, Ranjani joined her husband, becoming an expert at the potter's wheel. It came in handy when Jayasena had a slipped disc and was left disabled for awhile having to lie flat on his back on the floor in excruciating pain.
The work continued, however, for Ranjani rose to the occasion even lugging up huge barrel- shaped lumps of clay weighing about 40 lbs to feed into the machine to get the padama (consistency) right.
The pottery-making process starts with the couple having to buy tractorloads of clay from a site at Ambulugama. "We are facing much difficulty because clay needs a permit now," laments Jayasena, going onto explain that once the clay-load is dumped in their backyard, they have to feed the clay into the padangkarana machine. For the clay to reach the right consistency it would take about four days, having to be fed over and over again into the machine, until it comes out " amberila, kalawang wela" (twisted and mixed well).
Back-breaking work, concedes Ranjani, while Jayasena nods in agreement. This machine is operated with power from the hand-tractor which works on diesel.
Then a lump of clay of the right consistency is taken onto the sakaporuwa (wheel) and with deft but meticulous hand movements, Ranjani fashions a pot, gently but firmly.
"Earlier, while I made the pots, Jayasena would turn the wheel," she explains of the days when the wheel had to be operated manually. Now only one is needed because they have switched to electricity, though it is costlier, to free the second pair of hands for the next stage of the work and to make the "assembly line" move faster. Sitting at the wheel for about four hours, she would turn out more than 200 pots in one go, after which they are kept to dry. The job of smoothing out the rough surfaces of these pots is Jayasena's.
Both husband and wife hasten to add that it is not only pots they produce but also a variety of clay-products. The work momentum becomes frenetic, however, just before Avurudu as more pots are in demand and at Vesak as pahan theti sales soar.
The tough work comes thereafter, for they have to dry the pots and other clay-ware sometimes as many as 40,000 pieces in the large kiln. Explaining the layers, Jayasena says that right at the bottom is firewood, followed by clay-tiles, over which are carefully placed all the items that need to be fired. Next a thick layer of straw is strewn and clay mixed with water poured over it, before setting the firewood alight.
Mada gindara thiyenna ona, points out Jayasena, explaining that firstly the fire has to be mild, for if it is too intense the clay-ware would crack. When the moisture evaporates from the clay-ware, they poke holes in the crust that has formed over the straw to allow the trapped smoke to get out, after which the heat is gradually increased until the clay-ware is ready.
It is no easy task, for the couple have to inhale not only the straw and the dust while setting the layers but also the thick fumes that emerge.
Moleta yanawa, says Ranjani, adding that the dust and the smoke go straight to the brain, but Jayasena with stoic acceptance points out that his ancestors did the same without any harm or illness befalling them.
They are not without their troubles, as they have to pay for each and everything to keep their cottage industry alive.........."the firewood, the clay, diesel for the tractor, the electricity for the wheel, everything costs money" in addition to the food for the family of four, father, mother and two daughters and also the children's tuition fees and travel. The rains also hinder their work and they just do not have the liberty of falling ill.
"We borrow money from the large shop close to our home," Jayasena says ruefully, adding that forever they are in debt.
Perking up though, he sees the brighter side in that the shop buys up all their clay-ware so that they don't have to hawk them here and there.
The future of their cottage industry, of course, is uncertain, for although the two daughters are also skilled, they wonder whether they will dabble in this art. The elder daughter is studying for her degree while the second will sit the Advanced Level examination this year.
Will the wheel stop turning in this humble home with the next generation moving on, is on our minds as dusk envelops the area, leaving us wondering whether traditional pottery is a dying craft.
The Sinhala and Tamil New Year or the “Aluth Avuruddha” has been celebrated in Sri Lankan homes for millennia. It has enriched the culture, stimulated society and illuminated the nation so much so that today the “Aluth Avuruddha” has emerged as the country’s premier National Festival.
It has acquired even greater significance in the objective of achieving national harmony because the New Year is the single event in Sri Lanka that is celebrated by both the Sinhala Buddhists and the Tamil Hindus.
The traditions, customs, the rites and the rituals associated with the New Year followed for the enhancement of health, prosperity, quality of life and recreation with emphasis on renewal of goodwill depict a rich heritage that once was heavy with meaning to a farming community. Traditions are still being followed in spite of transformation from a pastoral to a commercial society. The New Year thus, has stood the test of time.
The event signifies a solar phenomenon which is the transit of the sun from the zodiacal position “Pisces” or “Meena” to “Aries” or “Mesha.” According to a thesis written by Professor A.D.T. E. Perera – a former author of the Buddhist Encyclopaedia on Lankan Festivals and Ceremonies, the fact that the event denotes the movement of the sun reflects an ancient cult which is embedded in hoary antiquity. And the celebration of the event by both the Sinhalese Buddhists and Tamil Hindus bespeaks of a forgotten period in Sri Lanka’s dim past when the two communities shared common interests in their cults, beliefs and practices.
Professor Perera holds the view that before the advent of Aryachakravartis and other conquerors from South India, the Sinhalese and the Tamils belonged to one ethnic group while the Aryanisation the Sinhalese claim to have made them the predominant race, has made it difficult to trace the origin of social customs that apparently had been common to the two communities.
However, only a community whose ancestors were well informed in zodiacal studies says Professor Perera, could claim an inheritance of a practice associated with the study of planetary movements which had led them to the knowledge of the transit of the sun from Pisces to Aries. In short, it had to be a community whose ancestors were sun-worshippers who naturally preserved such traditions associated with solar-cults.
The thesis reveals that the worship of the sun-god was prevalent in most ancient civilizations in the Orient and the Americas and according to archaeological discoveries; the knowledge of the zodiacal and planetary systems had reached considerable heights.
The author had noted that almost all these civilizations that sprang from sites such as the Nile valley, the Indus valley, the Euphrates and the Tigris Basin and civilizations in Mexican and Peruvian terrain belonged to the non-aryan ethnic groups. Whereas among the Indo-aryans, who had devastated most of these pre-historic civilizations, the solar-cult was not as popular. The early part of the Rigveda shows that the primary god of the Indo-aryans – Indra, often discomfited the sun-god Surya in battle, an episode that reflects the clashes between the Aryans and their sunworshipping adversaries. The sun-god “Surya” was given pride of place only in the later Atharvaveda and Brahmana literature, several centuries after the Indo-aryan themselves got naturalized among the non-aryans and after their absorption of non-aryan cults and practices to the Aryan fold.
Professor Perera states that this could be the reason for non-aryan Lankan Tamils to have a claim on the Aluth Avuruddha and the solar-cult while celebrations centred round sun-worship were prevalent among the Sinhalese whose ancestry goes into deep antiquity long before any fusion with the Aryan blood. The celebration of the Sinhala and Tamil New Year in Sri Lanka thus is an echo of the pre-historic socio-religious phenomenon, Professor Perera surmised.
The spread of Buddhism, Professor Perera points out, resulted in the appropriation of pre-buddhist shrines although places of solar deity-worship before the advent of Buddhism have not been traced. But he says that if archaeological and historical data are carefully investigated, it could be surmised that most of the hilltops which later turned to be sites of Buddhistworship were places where the sunworshippers gathered to pay obeisance to their all-encompassing divine being –“Surya deiyyo.” Cittalapabbata (Sithulpawwa,) Dambulla, Dimbulagala, Kataragama, Sri Pada, Cettiyapabbatha (Mihintale,) Arittapabbhatha (Ritigala,) Kadiramalai and Tiruketisvara Professor Perera cites as probable sites of pre-buddhist Ssun-god worshipping centres. The professor had proposed that such sites of national eminence could be ascertained by an investigation of cults and practices associated with the celebration of the New Year.
Justifying his proposition he discusses the worshipping of Sri Pada at Sumana Kuta (Adam’s Peak) when the season reaches its peak in the month of “Bak” or April. “Bak” is derived from “Bhagya” which means prosperity, fertility, fecundity, resourcefulness and affluence; hence “Bak Maha” was the month that yielded prosperity. The Sri Pada pilgrimage is incomplete without the witnessing of the “Irusevaya” – the solar phenomenon at the break of dawn. The Sun God worshipped earlier at the summit of Sri Pada had now been made to pay homage to the great sage Sakyamuni Gautama who had sanctified according to tradition the summit of the sacred mountain by keeping his Footprint on its top.
Professor Perera states that the Bak Festival now termed Aluth Avurudda is a continuation of the Solar Festival of pre-historic times and the pilgrims to Sri Pada still consider that their pilgrimage has to be fulfilled in the Bak Maha when the Sun-god enters the path of a New Year, a path of prosperity and bliss – a good reason for merrymaking and festivity.
Does not the fact that the Aluth Avuruddhawhich continues to be called the “Suryadeva Mangallaya” or the “Festival of the Sun God” and the view still held that a mythical Avurudhu Kumaraya descends upon the earth in a horse-carriage, dressed in royal garb at the dawn of the New Year bringing peace, prosperity and tranquillity give credence to the theory of the sun-worship and the godly-treatment of the event?
The Aluth Avuruddha meanwhile, happily coincided with the Maha harvest. Maha was the island’s main paddy cultivation and the harvest was brought home in the month of April. It was also the beginning of the Vasanthaya (spring) in Sri Lanka when trees bore fruit and bounties full.
The astrologers worked out the auspicious hours and directions for observances of customs to be followed for the lighting of the hearth, partaking of the first meal and the com- mencement of work. The custom of anointing of the head with herbal oil and the first bath were as important to be carried out at the auspicious hour. Therefore all customs and practices seem to have taken shape to contribute towards the wellbeing of the individual and the family in the year that began.
Once customs were followed and gifts exchanged, obeisance was made to the elders offering sheaves of betel to express respect towards them. Celebrations commenced thereafter when the village reverberated with the beat of the raban and the young swinging on the onchilla tucking into Avurudu delicacies.
Traditions and customs apart, Sri Lanka’s rich gamut of folk games and folksongs could be traced to the Aluth Avuruddha. Games such as olinda keliya and the throw of coins or shells were played at home while onchili kavi were spontaneous outbursts of immense joy the young derived while they found themselves swinging on the coir-rope onchilla specially hung for the New Year.
Raban pada essentially were impromptu-compositions of the womenfolk. They sat round the rabana and created tunes to outdo the players of the next rabana, some even trying a dance-step in between playing. Many folk songs happened to be composed by fun-loving village-folk who sang them when they played group-games such as kalagedi sellama, mawara keliya, eluvan kannai mung awe and leekeli sellama at the village avurudu festival. Folk-games such as kotta pora, kanaa mutti, kamba edeema, climbing the oiled pole, coconut scraping as well as the selection of the Avurudu Kalyaniwere essentially part and parcel of this festival.
Besides, an important part of the avuruddha was the preparation of avurudu delicacies such as kavun, kokis, aasmi, aggala, dodol and aluva. These were prepared well ahead of the Avuruddha and enjoyed by one and all in the neighbourhood. No other national festival has enriched Lankan culture as the Aluth Avuruddha.