Kandy Perahera Festival

Kandy Perahera Festival

 If there is a festival not to be missed in Sri Lanka – this is it. The Kandy Perahera Festival is a splash of colour and blur of activity, held in Kandy city amongst the hills of tropical plantations. 

This year, the festival is running from 19th July to 2nd August 2012. The occasion honours Lord Buddha’s sacred tooth relic, and the temple which houses it in Kandy was declared a world heritage site by UNESCO in 1988. It is one of the holiest places of worship for Buddhists, and a location of pilgrimage.

The annual festival is a sight to behold. Expect to be entertained and mesmerised; expect to be dazzled by flickering lights, as if encircled by fireflies; and expect to witness sumptuous celebrations of a rich culture. In total there are five processions, each dedicated to a different God. There’ll be parades of drummers, dancers, fire-juggling acrobats, and musicians. And if this isn’t enough, adorned in embroidered fabrics will be a hundred of nature’s gentle giants – the Asian elephant.

The drums beat like a thousand heartbeats. Dancers twirl and reach for the stars from the ink-blue blanket of a sky. Like firebirds, the flames of the fire-jugglers blaze and graciously ruffle in the air. The decorated elephants amble through the charged atmosphere. And musical notes weave through the space, lacing both participants and spectators together, creating one community joined in festivity.