Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
People of Sri Lanka
Every day in Sri Lanka, families bring flowers to white-domed dagobas (stu-
pas), women in bright saris walk to rainbow-coloured Hindu temples with of-
ferings for their gods, and whitewashed mosques call the faithful to prayer in
the cool dawn. Of course, the country has seen decades of war and violence,
and tensions remain. But the traditions continue, and Sri Lankans somehow
manage to find moments of peace, all the while greeting visitors with warmth
and hospitality as they've done for millennia.
Multifaith Pilgrimages
Adam's Peak
Kataragama
Nainativu
Tradition & Ethnicity
Traditional Sri Lankan life was centred on the
gamma
(village), a highly organised hub of
activity, where everyone fulfilled specific roles. Agriculture was the mainstay, and some
villages focused on particular products - even today you might pass through a 'cane-fur-
niture
gamma'.
Every village had a protector deity (or several), usually associated with as-
pects of nature.
Veddahs
The Veddahs (Hunters), or, as they refer to themselves, Wanniyala-aetto (People of the
Forest), are Sri Lanka's original inhabitants. Each wave of migration to Sri Lanka left the
Veddahs with less forest on which to subsist. Today they are so few in number that they
don't even make the census, and only a tiny percentage of those retain a semblance of their
old culture, which comprises a hunter-gatherer lifestyle and close relationships to nature
and their ancestors. The Kele Weddo (jungle-dwelling Veddahs) and Can Weddo (village-
dwelling Veddahs) live mainly in the area between Badulla, Batticaloa and Polonnaruwa.
