Happy Sinhalese New Year!

Suba Aluth Auruddhak Wewa! (Happy Sinhalese New Year). Wishing all our DPS families from Sri Lanka, a very happy Sinhala & Tamil New Year. May this New Year bring you happiness & prosperity.

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What is Sinhalese New Year?  In Sri Lanka, new year celebrations start on 13th of April and end on the14th. This is called Sinhala and Tamil New Year and is the biggest celebration in Sri Lanka. It is also celebrated in parts of Malaysia, Singapore and India.

Also known as the sun festival, the Sinhala and Tamil new year is a ritual performed to honour the God of Sun and has been celebrated for hundreds of years. Sri Lankan people welcome the new year in April with a lot of firecrackers, fireworks and lots of traditional sweets!

Some traditions include : Lighting the hearth, First meal at the Avurudu table, Tasting the New Years Sweets and Playing games. These fun games include Placing the eye on the elephant (Aliyata asa thabeema), Pillow-fight (Kotta Pora) Tug-o-War (Kamba Adeema) and Climbing the greasy pole (Lissana gaha nageema).