The Buddhist celebrations were in honour of our friends the Weerasinghe family. We arrived at their house and soon journeyed down to the temple at 9pm with a group of brothers and friends to collect a group of local monks, musicians and dancers. We paraded back to the family home with them guided by the light of flame sticks and following the sounds of drums and a trumpet type instrument I'm not even sure I can name. The dancing was amazing and the traditional gear the four main dancers wore was beautiful.
Upon arriving at the family home we all gathered inside to sit. I can only assume from here what we sat through was religious chanting and welcomings. We dribbled out in groups to eat some dinner and sure enough it was my first 'eat with your hand, tingle the tongue and make that upper brow sweat' kinda meal. The rituals continued on into the night but Dav and I eventually snuck off to bed to rest our eyes. Needless to say sleep was interrupted multiple times with the loud banging of drums and call and response type chanting just metres from our door (curtain). It was however a lovely welcome to the culture of Sri Lanka.
We rose early the next day (day 2) to offer breakfast followed by gifts to the monks before taking them back to the temple. It was an absolute whirlwind experience and the family encouraged us to join in as much as we could. Some video footage I caught was certainly encouraged and will be shared at some stage I have no doubt.
Now for some serious planning before we start to journey off for the next week or so on our own, whilst others head back home or day nap after the huge celebrations last night.
**Note whilst writing this I asked a couple of the brothers why they chanted because in Buddhism chanting isn't seen as prayer. They said they do it in celebration and to help with concentration. So it is a meditation like process for them.**
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