We have experience of organizing Sri Lankan New Year for more than two decades. It was Sri Lankan students at Liverpool Hope University who had started New Year festival from 2000 with the help of Sri Lankan expatriates living in Liverpool.

The Sinhala and Tamil New Year is a very important occasion for both Sinhala Buddhists and Tamil Hindus. The uniqueness of this occasion is the celebration of the beginning of the new year as well as the ending of the old year at the auspicious times stated by astrologers. 

New year falls on  13-14 of April each year symbolizing the ending of the old year, and the beginning of the new year

. The biggest celebration in Sri Lanka that features a load of rituals and customs is one of the must things to experience in your life. Also known as the sun festival, the Sinhala and Tamil new year is a ritual performed to honour the God of Sun for hundreds and hundreds of years now.

Comes with such a long history the festival is the best season to experience Sri Lanka’s core traditions and rituals and to enjoy fun activities and traditional games.

New year festival games

Once the rituals are over, celebrations spill out into the street. These traditional games are the highlight of the day for many. During these celebrations, some of the new year games played in new year events are;

*placing the eye on the elephant

*eating buns

*pillow- fight

*tug-o-war

*breaking the pots

*climbing the greasy pole