We in the United States of America have our patriotic parades, our political and civic walks, and our religious processions. In The Perahera Processions of Ceylon, National Geographic Magazine, July, 1932, G. H. G. Burroughs tells us about a religious procession in Kandy, the capital city of the nation of Ceylon (now called Sri Lanka).
The procession honors a relic, the right eyetooth of Buddha, who died circa 483 B.C. Tradition holds that these ceremonies have been held "annually since the time when Buddha's Tooth was brought to Ceylon, hidden within the coils of the hair of a Kalinga princess, some 800 years after the death of the Hindu sage. . . the sacred festival has changed but little in barbaric splendor through the centuries" (p. 90).
Lasting for ten nights, the public does not participate during the first five nights but for the next five nights, everybody in Kandy takes part.
After the firing of a gun, the Perahera begins with the entry on the road of the Temple Elephant. "His headpiece is covered with gold and jewels, his blanket is embroidered in gold and silver, and even his tusks are encased in golden sheaths" (photo caption, p. 91). The elephant is Ceylon's official symbol.
This procession, which still continues its annual tradition in Sri Lanka in our times, in 1932 consisted of chiefs, drummers, and dancers moving through the main streets of Kandy for twenty-five miles. At the end of the ceremony, the dancers were in complete exhaustion.
The end of the Perahera procession is "the ceremony of the "water-cutting," when temple priests "slash the sacred water taken from the Mahaweli Ganga, one of the country's largest rivers "Attendants scoop up the water in golden pitchers. . . Orderly, patient, and cheerful is this vast multitude, as it beholds the final ritual" (p. 100).
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