A New Year began on April 14 for Sri Lankan Buddhists and Hindus. One custom is to boil fresh milk in a new clay pot and allow it to overflow, seen as a way of invoking blessings.
Sanka Vidanagama/NurPhoto via Getty Images
hide caption
toggle caption
Sanka Vidanagama/NurPhoto via Getty Images
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — Shiranti Rambukkana, a resident of a modest working-class area, has kindled a fire in her small living room. At the exact moment of 10:51 a.m., she ignites the fire beneath a metal pan filled with wood. She adds fire starters to keep the flames alive, and soon, a clay pot filled with milk set on bricks begins to boil over, symbolizing the arrival of prosperity and good luck in the New Year.
The date marking the New Year varies across cultures. However, in Sri Lanka, the Buddhist majority and Hindu minority celebrate it on April 14. This date signifies the conclusion of one solar year and the commencement of another, according to local astrological beliefs.
Traditionally, certain rituals are performed at auspicious times on this day to usher in prosperity for the new year.
The timing of these rituals varies annually, determined by astrologers and announced by the Ministry of Culture.
As a result, nearly everyone follows the same rituals simultaneously to celebrate the New Year.
Rambukkana lights her hearth to boil milk, facing south and dressed in red, precisely at 10:51. Her husband, Kasoun, uses towels to carefully move the metal tray containing the kindling, bricks, and clay pot outside. She then hurries to the kitchen—a small space behind the staircase—and squeezes soaked shredded coconut to extract the milk. This goes into her rice cooker to prepare a traditional coconut rice dish, which is consumed at 12:06 p.m.
There are other culinary traditions. Rambukkana’s table is laden with sweets, from traditional fried lentil and rice flour balls covered in sticky syrup to store-bought chocolate cakes. Her four children, aged between 2 ½ and 22, are tempted but know not to touch. A large portion of these treats will be shared with neighbors—Christians, Muslims, Hindus, and Buddhists—in the working-class district of Maligawatta.
Being anointed with oil is part of the New Year’s ceremony in mid-April for Buddhists and Hindus in Sri Lanka.
Gayan Sameera/Xinhua News Agency via Getty Images
hide caption
toggle caption
Gayan Sameera/Xinhua News Agency via Getty Images
The milk, coconut, sweets, new clothes, and cash gifts for the family amounted to more than $300, consuming all of her annual savings. “I’ve been secretly saving money without my husband knowing,” she confides with a laugh. She retrieves her savings from an unusual bank—a tin of milk powder with a slot cut into it and sealed tightly with tape.
Rambukkana felt compelled to ensure her children had a joyful New Year celebration, saying, “we wanted to celebrate this time,” because the previous year was marked by sadness. Her brother had passed away, her husband was hospitalized for heart surgery, and a daughter, an athlete, lost a scholarship opportunity in Japan due to financial constraints. Her athletic achievements, ranging from 400 meters to volleyball, hang proudly on a hook above the table, as her brother boasts about her success.
Saving has become increasingly challenging for Sri Lankans since the United States and Israel declared war on Iran in late February. This conflict has obstructed a vital shipping route, the Strait of Hormuz, resulting in higher fuel and fertilizer prices. Consequently, Sri Lanka, dependent on imported energy from the Gulf, faces rising costs across the board.
As a result, the Rambukkana family is consuming less food due to higher prices. They opt for cheaper meals like watery curries, dried fish, and rice. They also cook less frequently as cooking gas cylinders have increased by 20%.
Despite these challenges, they consider themselves fortunate. In Sri Lanka, the World Food Program reports that a third of children are malnourished, and experts predict more hunger and poverty as the conflict continues.
As the clock strikes 12:06, Rambukkana’s toddler plays with her mother’s phone. She brings out the tray of coconut milk rice, the first food traditionally consumed on New Year, symbolizing purity, peace, prosperity, and abundance. Her husband feeds a portion to Rambukkana and their four children, who then respectfully touch his feet. He gives them money, continuing another New Year tradition.
An aunt from across the road, Indrani Rambukkana, 70, observes her son and daughter-in-law struggling to manage rising costs. She tries to avoid burdening them but faces her own difficulties. Her heart medication, once free at government hospitals, became scarce after the conflict began. Now, she spends her dwindling savings on pharmacy purchases.
She mentions that while she doesn’t speak English, she does speak Farsi from her 20 years caring for an elderly Iranian woman in Bahrain. She still communicates with the family, who, according to her, are doing well. “They don’t have problems,” she says. “We have the problems.”
