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Celebrating Festivals of All Religions
An initiative to bring together a wide range of ethnic and religious groups in Sri Lanka to celebrate religious festivals in unison.
Description
This initiative started as a community action in 1991 by Sithumina and the organisations that lead it.
People in Anuradhapura are mainly Buddhists, Hindus, Christians and Muslims, and major festivals of each religion are celebrated under the initiative. The Buddhist festivals of Vesak and Poson in May and June, the Hindu festival of Deepavali in October, the Muslim Hajji in January, and Christmas in December are all celebrated together in the relevant religious places by people in Anuradhapura, Vaunia, and the surrounding area.
Aims / Objectives
The initiative aims to emphasise the equal rights of each religion in celebrating their own festivals, and to improve inter-religious cooperation.
This is expected to enhance relationships among people and improve religious understanding. Because of the ethno-religious nature of the Sri Lankan conflict, it is hoped that this initiative will promote understanding of each others’ religions and their similarities, thus humanising the opposition and leading to stronger inter-religious relationships.
How it is Articulated
Various community service organisations from different areas work together for this initiative. They inform the community of the upcoming festivals and plan, together with the community, where the festival should be held, and what people from each area and religion will contribute to it.
Generally the activity starts with a procession, led by the group of people whose religion the festival honours, and the people from other religions join the procession from their own religious centres, located en route, to the place where the main activity is taking place. This could be a religious ritual or a Shramadana (when people donate a day of work together to complete an activity, for example cleaning, or construction). The places differ from year to year, and from festival to festival.
Achievements / Learning Points
Celebrating significant festivals of all religions provides an opportunity for the villages to congregate, and to respect and support each others' religions. This promotes religious and ethnic harmony in the area.
Improved relationships between the villages enable them to understand each other’s distinct religious and ethnic identities, thus facilitating their work together as a community, preventing conflicts that arise between ethnicities due to misunderstandings and the inability to relate to each other.
If Sithumina had the resources to conduct more awareness programmes on diversity and similarity between religions in association with these programmes in villages, this initiative would be even more successful.
Geographical Area of Operation
Kahatagasdigiliya, and throughout the Anuradhapura District.
Funding Resources
Community contributions
Organisations Involved
Samadeepa, INSOD, ACCEOD, Suva Surakuma, Kuda Katharagama Devala Sanwardana Sabhava, and other community based organisations in Anuradhapura.