News
Poson Poya Week from May 31 to June 6
View(s):The official Poson Week this year will be from May 31 to June 6, and will be centred on Mihintale and Thanthirimale sacred sites.
Mihintale
This year’s Poson week was declared by the Poson committee headed by the Chief Incumbent of the Ruwanweli Maha Seya in Anuradhapura, the Ven. Pallegama Hemarathana Thera.
Anuradhapura District Secretary D.P.G. Kumarasiri said around 2 million pilgrims are expected to gather in Anuradhapura for this year’s Poson season.
Thanthirimale, the ancient monastery, some 40 kilometres from Anuradhapura, will be lit up by Lankadeepa Aloka Pooja of Wijeya Newspapers Ltd for the 12th consecutive year, on June 1 and 2, along with Rupavahini as electronic media sponsor.
Meanwhile, in Anuradhapura, the Poson Aloka Pooja will illuminate Mihintale from May 30 to June 3. The Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Ltd, Abans Ltd, Bank of Ceylon and Dialog will sponsor this endeavour. The Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation, Lak Handa and Independent Television Network will provide live coverage of the event. In preparation for this programme, the entire Mihintale shrine area was cleaned with State support, while the Sela Chetiya, the stupa enshrining relics of the Buddha, was whitewashed.
Thanthirimale
The wewas, pathways and roads leading to the sacred area were cleaned last week for Poson week, by volunteers who worked together with the Sri Lanka Navy, Civil Defence Force (CDF) personnel and Road Development Authority officials.
Apart from the main events taking place in the heartland of ancient Buddhism, Poson will be celebrated islandwide. Recently dansal and bakthi gee on Poson day have become popular, which were normally only parts of Vesak.
Meanwhile, hundreds of towns, villages and institutions will be organising Mihindu peraheras, complete with effigies of monks and kings, to commemorate the coming of Arahat Mahinda who, in Sri Lanka, is considered second in holiness only to the Buddha himself.
This year, 1,976 police officers and 334 CDF personnel have been deployed to maintain order within the sacred city. There will also be 975 traffic police officers.