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Sri Lankans greet New Year with hope and prayer
The New Year is ideally heralded with parties, events, and religious activities. Some households boil fresh milk on the first day of January as a symbol of prosperity. New Year’s eve, too, in the past had been about wining and dining, but this year we hear most people whining about dining with essential items being costly or not available.
Hotels and restaurants have organised several events and many churches had watch night services on December 31, and people of various faiths observed religious rites on January 1 seeking blessings.
Lighting up the night sky at Galle Face with hope for a better 2022. Pic by Eshan Fernando
The Sunday Times spoke to several persons on their plans regarding the dawn of a new year.
Many Buddhists start the New Year by visiting temples to make offerings and pray.
“My family has been taking milk rice to the temple as an offering for many years and this year was no exception,” said a resident in Kandy.
Hindus prayed at kovils during poojas on 31st night and January 1 to receive blessings for a prosperous and peaceful new year.
“We need divine intervention now more than ever. So we invoked the blessings of gods on January 1 at the kovil with offerings and prayers,’’ said a Hindu devotee from Wellawatte.
“I went to watch night service on 31st night with my family, which is a tradition and it was good to herald the new year with worship after a challenging 12 months. Many families lost loved ones and it was a time to give thanks to their lives as well. Our church also had a morning service on January 1. I believe the stillness of New Year’s eve will translate to the wellness of 2022,” said a worshipper of Christian Reformed Church Dehiwela.
“The grand gala dinner at Galle Face Hotel is generally a highly anticipated event. However, this year we limited seating with only around 200 guests at each of our three main events: the gala dinner in the Jubilee Ballroom, dinner at the King of the Mambo restaurant, and dinner at our Fire Beach restaurant.
“The prices are quite similar to previous years as we are absorbing some of the cost. We cannot raise the prices despite the cost of essential items and ingredients rising. We depended on a limited number of guests this year as opposed to 2019 when we had 1,800 guests in the garden with the event lasting from 10:00pm to 6:00am. This time the event ended at 3:00am with a few guests in our ballroom. Last year we had 100 guests, no tourists, and the event lasted till midnight only. It was as special as regular a day,” said Nihal Perera, food and beverage manager at Galle Face Hotel.
Krishantha Damunupola, general manager of Double Tree by Hilton Weerawila Rajawarna Resort, said: “The hotel opened last year; so we did not have any festivities. This year we have our gala dinner with live music and have had a fairly good response. However, we were on the fence when planning this event due to the fear factor of the health situation. It is unfortunate that we had to have circumspect celebrations.”
Oshan Jayasundera, Director of The Avenue, said: “2020 was quite slow compared with 2019. We had live music and a three-course menu while maintaining social distance with the layout of the tables to welcome 2022. We tried to make the tickets affordable to help people to get over a mundane year. Gas was our biggest issue as we could not get sufficient supply to prepare for new year’s eve. There were days when I had to drive to Ja-Ela and back simply to get LP gas.”
Renowned singer Rajitha Rupasinghe of the band Misty commented: “This year has been better than last year of course, but it was not the same as it was pre-COVID. The band kept busy with live streams and had a good time doing so. However, there was that element of the audience being there physically that we missed deeply. We had back-to-back performances between Christmas and New Years’ eve. We performed at Sheraton Kosgoda for their new Year festivities and as performers, we enjoyed thoroughly.”
A school-leaver said: “We hosted a barbecue night for our immediate family with the hope of celebrating a year better than the last. I think for Sri Lanka 2021 has been the rest of the world’s 2020. To be frank, the new year’s eve celebrations felt out of place as this year has been quite a blur. I welcomed the new year with minimal hope because a change in the digit of a year does not mean it will change much else,”
Nathaneal Isuru, a student of St. Thomas’ College, said: “We went to church to commemorate the dawn of the new year. This was possibly the most amount of socialising all year as I have not had school physically nor have I had any other activities. Our New Year’s eve was not as glamorous as one would hope because 2021 just came and went.”
“I simply had dinner with a friend, like any other day. In 2021, despite the number of firecrackers saying otherwise, many people saw more suppressed celebrations due to many reasons, COVID-19 being the least of peoples’ worries,” said marketing intern Y. Rommel.
A teacher of English at a leading international School in Colombo, Shannon Misso, said: “I stayed at home and had a movie night with my family. The past few years have been about giving thanks to and with family and friends. I am holding on to the words of Emily Dickinson as ‘hope is the thing with feathers’, and what is a celebration on New Year’s eve without hope?”
Many left 2021 with a sigh of relief with the hope of better things to come in 2022. As always, the dawn of a new year opens doors for hopes and prayers of new beginnings.
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