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Avurudu
goodies from the village The town is teeming with people and vehicles and the pavement hawkers have taken up all available street corners and quite a bit of road space. The streets are colourful with vendors doing a brisk trade. People hardly seem to be stepping into the shops! Clothes, in different shapes and sizes for all ages, dominate the stalls. Then there are the plastic goods and a host of trinkets to select from as gifts for family and friends I have bought my own little raw material to make little gifts for the women and children in the village. But time hasn't been on my side and I have not been able to finish any of them. Perhaps, I will take them all to Colombo to complete and bring back to the village. Hopefully, my daughter will agree to finish them for me! If I have found
myself snowed up with work, I deserve it. In my enthusiasm to see
my little women's group prosper, I scouted around for some New Year
sweetmeat orders from Colombo. Now we have received quite a substantial
order and we have promised to deliver it to their doorsteps by the
12th morning, so that it would be fresh. The women are busy, pounding the rice and scouring the village for the right type of coconuts. They feel important. A few weeks back they obliged some locals living abroad, who were craving for some kavum and halape and the feed back was all they wanted to hear: "It was delicious". Now that was something that had to be fed to the village grapevine... how they had met the needs of people overseas and how pleased they were. The village was green with envy. How we are going to bring the sweetmeats to Colombo is a step that still has to be dealt with, because we do not have transport of our own. We are trying to organize a person who has a diesel conveyance to help us with the delivery. Otherwise, we will have to bring them to the town in three-wheelers and then take the train. There is no way the buses will allow such luggage, especially during the season, when passengers trying to get home will albeit be given first preference. Then again, imagine after all the hard work, if somebody puts his or her foot into it! At the moment, the most important thing is to get the job done. The sweetmeats must be of a quality that all those who eat it should exclaim "These are super"! So it calls for a lot of organization. Too many cooks can spoil the soup but it is essential that one does not try to take over the whole task, in order to get a larger share of the profits, and thereby not achieve the desired result, and spoil the market we are so hard trying to please. It is essential that the one, who makes the best mixture, does that alone, so that every kavum and mung Kavum will taste the same. At least that is what we are trying to achieve and the others will help in the task of pounding the rice, sifting, stirring, frying and scraping of coconuts. The dodol itself needs over 50 coconuts! And the women insist that the rice flour for the kavums have to be pounded at home and not at a mill in order to get the right texture. I let them decide. All I have specified is that the sweetmeats should be made in a manner that they would be proud to have them on their Avurudu table. Poverty is not a deterrent to their capacity of enjoyment. Also when it comes to food they can turn out the most delicious meals with what is available locally. I have experienced this. When we gathered in our paddy, the tradition was to give a Kiridane. So although we didn't have much money, we all contributed in kind and finally there was enough for the families, as well as those who were observing "sil" at the temple. They worked together through the night, since the alms had to be given to the temple early the next morning. They kept themselves going with laughter! They could not get back home and get to bed after that, as they had to find their own sustenance to feed their families and attend to household chores - drawing water, collecting firewood - backbreaking tasks, that would have made a Colombo housewife gasp, despite a healthy diet. This too is a collective effort, so there will be a lot of laughter, while they get about their task. These women work very hard, and are quite responsible. The poorer they are the greater capacity to procure a means to earn their daily bread. I am glad I have been able to swell their meagre store this Avurudu and God bless those who had faith in us.
A time to work, a time to play No one is quite certain of the origin of this festival. Some think it can be traced to an old festival of thanksgiving to the sun god, called Suriya Deva Mangallaya, which celebrated the movement of the sun from the zodiacal sign of Pisces to that of Aries. It is this movement that marks the current new year. Nonagathe The activities that should be temporarily discontinued are drawing water, cooking and work. In rural areas, water from the well is brought into the house before the nonagathe, the fire in the hearth is doused and no real work is done. Joyous The sound of
raban drumming fills the air as the aluth-avurudu devataor the god
of the new year strides over the lives of the people giving them
new hopes and aspirations. The housewife then proceeds to light the hearth at an auspicious time, facing the direction prescribed by the astrologers. She then places
a new pot containing new rice on the fire. And since it is obligatory
to add milk to the first new year meal, this is done in the form
of kiri bath or milk rice. Games Among the men, old sports like climbing the greasy pole and pillow fighting find a place. Today bicycle races are very popular. In some villages, especially in the hill country, men take part in ritualistic team games like an keliya and pora pol dedicated to the goddess Pattini Deva. Pattini is one of the four guardian deities of Sri Lanka in folk Buddhism. She is believed to preside over agricultural prosperity, fertility, pestilence and infectious diseases. Since agriculture is the mainstay of rural folk, farmers want to show their gratitude to Pattini for bounties received and pray that they may continue. The an keliya (pulling of locked deer horns) and pora pol (smashing coconuts) contests are ways of propitiating the goddess. The preliminaries to a contest are elaborate with a prescribed ceremonial ritual being clearly observed. Swings or onchilla are popular during the new year among village lasses. They dress in new clothes and swing to and fro singing onchilla varam or verses in praise of goddess Pattini. The aluth avurudu mangallaya is therefore very much a festival of thanksgiving, on the one hand to the Sun god or Iru Deviyo who supplies the most important source of energy, and on the other to Pattini Deva for her blessings. And now enough is enough! It's time to sink my teeth into the kevum, kokis, asmi, aggala and kalu dodol to name a few of the traditional sweetmeats I've received from my neighbours. And, of course, wish you a happy new year - suba aluth avurudduk. |
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Copyright © 2001 Wijeya Newspapers
Ltd. All rights reserved. |
It
is considered to be an inauspicious period when certain routine
activities need to be discontinued and the time spent in prayer
and meditation in preparation for the dawn of the new year.
traditional
new year festivities.
