Traditional New Years with Projects-Abroad

Hello again!
So the new year here in SL is a time where the harvest season is coming to an end and the monsoon season is beginning. Its a time for a new, clean start to the new year. Preparing for the new year is a busy busy time for both Tamil and Sinhalese people. There is lots of cooking and baking of the traditional foods, cleaning of the houses and buisnesses, and always new clothes to wear for the start of the new beginning. There are loads of traditions to this unique culture, and Projects-Abroad wanted to share these traditions with all the volunteers. So they arranged for us to come celebrate with them at one of the resort hotels near Panadura yesterday (April 17th). We had to dress in the traditional sarees for girls and sarongs for boys. We played all sorts of fun games that the local children play every year to celebrate. Things like egg toss, pillow fighting, relay races, and bun eating. We did this all dressed up in our Sunday's best! haha! Jamie and I won the egg toss, his cricket skills and my softball expertise came in handy I guess! haha! The pillow fighting is not what you think, its when two people climb up onto a big log that is about 8 feet off the ground, they straddle it and hit each other with the pillows, aiming to knock the other off. There are people on the ground to catch the person when they fall, it actually looked kinda scary. I didnt volunteer for that one! haha! The bun eating was also very commical! There were these sweet buns or bread rolls that were suspended in the air by a string and the first person to eat it completely off the dangling string won. Well the catch was that you couldnt use your hands! Very difficult! After all these games we had some lunch and spent the rest of the day in the pool!
The whole day was loads of fun! It was nice to experience the traditions frist hand and learn what the new year really means to the people of SL!

I hope that everyone is enjoying the nicer weather! I've heard the snow is finally almost gone, I was hoping for one last day of skiing when I got home but I dont think I'm gonna get it! :(

xoxo
Lauren