Kandy Traditional Esala perahara ( procession)
The main Esala festival takes place in Kandy, the medieval hill capital. The glittering Kandy Esala Perahera, often called Asia’s grandest traditional pageant, parades the streets for ten nights by moon and torch light, in the lake-side mountain citadel. while the roots of Esala festivals go deep into Sri Lanka’s early civilization, Kandy Esala Perahera in its present form dates from 1775.
It is held annually to honour the Sacred Tooth Relic of the Buddha and to obtain the blessings and help of the four guardian deities of Sri Lanka,on the country and its people.The pageant is made up of five magnificent processions,one each from the deistic temples of Natha, Vishnu, Katharagama, and Pattini and the grandest from the Dalada Maligawa, the shrine of the Sacred of the Sacred Tooth Relic.Massed kandyan (highland) dancers,drummers,musicians, minstrels, officials, whip crackers, torch and standard bearers, all in colorful medieval costumes and scores of richly decorated elephants parade Kandy’s streets for ten nights in an unforgettable spectacle of oriental splendor.
The pageant centre-piece is a majestic, richly caparisoned, tusked elephant, bearing a replica of the relic casket. Large crowds of visitors and devotees, bazaars overflowing with fruits, handicrafts,sweetmeats and souvenirs give Kandy a carnival atmosphere at this time. The climax of the festival is the final night (Esala full moon), when the pageant is at its grandest. It ends with the day-time perahera the next morning and the water-cutting ceremony in the Mahaweli river, a ritual symbolizing the triumph of good over evil and to ensure rain in season and other blessings.
(SLT booklet)