'Silambu Palaendheema' - Lighting lamps, Part 5, Maniccawaththe Pansala, Avissawella, Sri Lanka.

'Silambu Palaendheema' - Lighting lamps, Part 4, Maniccawaththe Pansala, Avissawella, Sri Lanka.

'Silambu Palaendheema' - The Bodhi Pooja, Part 3, Maniccawaththe Pansala, Avissawella, Sri Lanka.

'Silambu palaendheema', Maniccawaththe Pansala, Avissawella, Sri Lanka.Part 1.

Please click on each of the web-links below to see videos of the action:-

https://youtu.be/B1w5YnuQMtg

https://youtu.be/tnhJm-GTymc

 Students in a dancing class, learning 'Sinhala Natum' - Sinhalese dances, have a graduation ceremony. At this the anklets - 'Halamba' S, 'Silambu' T, are ceremonially tied. This is a religious ceremony. I took these pictures at such a ceremony at the Maniccawaththe Pansala, Avissawella on the 22nd March 2015.

A 'Mal paela' and a 'Dewathaa Kotuwa', Avissawella, Sri Lanka.

A 'Mal paela' - A flower sapling.

A 'Devathaa Kotuwa' - The shed for the Gods.

Side view of the 'Devathaa Kotuwa'

The flower offering inviting the Gods.

I took these pictures at the initiation ceremony of a 'Hewisi Band' in the Maaniccawaththe Pansala, Avissawella, Sri Lanka. In Theravada Buddhist Cosmology, there are numerous Gods who by their meritorious actions are enjoying a status as Gods for a limited time. They are able to help human beings. They are invited and invoked for blessings at quite a few ceremonies. Small shelters are built of young fresh coconut fronds and plantain stems. Fresh flowers are offered and lamps lighted in these places before the Gods are invoked.