Kandy Esala Perahera - Part I

I'm going to start with a bad news first! =D Most of my pics turned up with motion blur as my cam phone can't turn moving objects into stills. Plus.. I had to deal with low lighting as the nearest street lamp was out and my cam had no flash! -__- Well.. the good news is.. I've selected the best bunch (60+ pics out of 260+ pics) to post (a few) here and (the rest) up in my album. The link will be added in 'My Albums' page once all pics are up.

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Kandy Esala Perahera is the biggest, longest, most spectacular and long standing pageant in Sri Lanka. It's an annual religious pageant conducted by Sri Dalada Maligawa to invoke blessings to the entire country.. plus it also brings rain. Every night during the perahera season more than 100,000 spectators gather along the parading streets. And they include not just locals but even foreigners from all corners of the globe.

You get to see many types of traditional dancing and costumes, and listen to many types of traditional instruments. The performers represent ages from 6+ years to 70+ years. Elephants and tuskers vary from 3ft size to 15+ ft size and they are clad in striking costumes lit with tiny bulbs. Some of these pachyderms are even good at dancing.. and I've got proof too! *you'll see them later when I get to upload the videos*


Esala Perahera has three phases. Starts with the four Devala (shrines dedicated to four key deities) Perahera parading within the premises, then the Kumbal (pottery) Perahera starting to parade along the streets and finally the most spectacular Randoli (golden palanquins) Perahera. The final day pageant circles 3 times around the premises of Maligawa and is called Dawal (day time) Perahera. The four Devala Perahera also join the main perahera (Dalada Perahera) to circle the streets, adding more color and ethnic vibes.

Each perahera (the Dalada Perahera and the four Devala Perahera) have their own culminations. For Dalada Perahera you will find the tallest and the highest pedigree tusker bearing a golden casket escorted by two tuskers *on either sides*, walking in a majestic manner. The golden casket bears the sacred relics paraded in place of the Sacred Tooth Relic. Then the four Devala Perahera also have their finest tuskers carrying golden caskets, and these caskets bear 'Devabharana' or 'Devayudha' (insignia) of the respective deities.

*if you want to know more, just google 'Kandy Esala Perahera' and you'll find tons of info and pics about it*

After trying my best to enhance their brightness and contrast this is what I got. Sorry again for the poor quality. Hope to buy a good digi cam before the next perahera. =D


7.40pm: The street below us was packed with spectators on either sides of the pavements.. as far as our eyes could see. For news they said during one of the Randoli perahera the count of spectators reached a staggering 300,000!



8.32pm: Kawadi dancers of Kataragama Devala Perahera.

There are basically four devalas - Vishnu, Kataragama, Natha and Pattini. Each Devala Perahera is supposed to join the main Dalada Perahera before the entire pageant commence. And thanks to our location we watched the Kataragama Devala Perahera twice! These pics were captured when they arrived to join the main perahera.


8.35pm: The tusker bearing insignia of the Kataragama Deity, escorted by its counterparts. Notice the big glow towards the bottom of the pic? These are torch bearers, doing the perennial tradition of illumining the streets for the pageant.


8.36pm: Illumined casket and the costume of the tusker

Each Devala has a color of its own. So all the costumes of the performers, tuskers and elephants all match the same color. Vishnu Devalaya - Blue, Kataragama Devalaya - red, Natha Devalaya - yellow and Pattini Devalaya - white.


8.49pm: Traditional drummers of Kataragama Devala Perahera


9.44pm: Whip crackers marking the beginning of the Kandy Esala Perahera. The sound of these whips are always ear blasting.


9.45pm: Fire spinners.

Some even do stunts like throwing the fire wheels high up towards the sky and catching it back precisely and spinning it right away. There were also kids in the same group as well as tall stilt walkers doing the fire dances.

The sound of the whips symbolize thundering, fire spinners - lightning and the tuskers - rain clouds. It is said that initially Esala Perahera was a ritual performed to please the gods and expecting timely rains essential for growing crops.


9.46pm: Another type of fire spinning with just one fire ball fixed to strands of their hair by a lengthy cord. When they shake their heads to a rhythm the fire balls spin like this.


9.48pm: More fire spinners

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Stay tuned for the rest of this episode. And don't forget.. we're still at the very beginning of this pageant. ^__^

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PS: Does anyone know of a good user-friendly video editor (freeware or shareware) which can edit brightness and contrast of video clips?