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| "This harvest festival is conducted by male Hindu priests but undertaken by the women of the area. " |
Reviewer: Deshan Tennekon Udappuwa is a small fishing and shrimp-farming village 105 km north of Colombo. This harvest festival is conducted by male Hindu priests but undertaken by the women of the area. The festival takes place shortly after Avurudhu, the national Sinhala and Tamil New Year celebrated in April/May. The women of the village meet, offer pooja (religious ritual) and dance in groups around their community shrine into the auspicious Tuesday night and early the next morning. All the women praying at neighbourhood shrines then converge on the nearby beach to end the celebration, carrying with them pots with seedlings as an offering to the sea. The priests elect one young woman to carry the first sapling into the sea and escort her into the surf. Once this is complete, the waiting crowd surge into the water and perform a brief and joyful purification ritual.
The Udappuwa festival is an adaptation of the traditional harvest and rain festival in response to geography - instead of praying for a good rice or vegetable harvest, this fishing community prays for a good catch.
Deshan Tennekoon's photo reportage will be featured on Sojournposse Edition 20 in November 2008
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