As I mentioned in an earlier post, I recently made a very quick trip to the southwest of the island to join 275 other Sewa Lanka people as they ended their one-week pilgrimage to Kataragama. The actual pilgrimage starts in Jaffna (northern most province) down the east coast to Kataragama and obviously takes much more than a week to complete. The pilgrimage is enjoyed by both Hindu’s and Buddhist as Kataragama, the deity, is believed to be a son of Shiva that came to Sri Lanka from India and now resides in the town with the same name. The Pilgrimage ends the Night before the Pera Hera Festival begins. So, unfortunately I wasn’t able to join on the pilgrimage due to work commitments, but it was nice to join in for the festival. Unfortunately, I forgot my camera. Big thanks to Tom for sending me these pics!
(photo by Tom Ramsson)Raja (my boss) and I at the festival.
(photo by Tom Ramsson)No I did not sneak off to Burning Man... These kids were actually pretty good fire-spinners.
(photo by Tom Ramsson)They like to dress up the elephants for the festival. This one reminds me of El Nacho, the Mexican wrestler… There were two that were magnificently adorned with rich tapestries and decorations. One elephant was sooo tall with huge tusks that nearly touched the ground. This was an intimidating animal. Before the festival the walk the elephants down to the river (which is, of course, sacred) and lovingly bath them. Then the elephants are marched to the temple grounds and they will bow to various shrines.
(photo by Tom Ramsson)I just like this pic looking down the parade route on the temple grounds. It really was a nice setting.
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