COLOMBO – The Sinhalese and Hindu Tamils celebrated their New Year on April 12 and 13, 12 being the last day of the old year and 13 being the first day of the new year. The customs are traditional and observed in accordance with astrologically auspicious times. A period of non-activity intervenes between the old and the new year when the hearth is extinguished and people go Buddhist temples and Hindu kovils.

Quiet Celebrations: Essentially a harvest festival, the Sinhala and Hindu New Year is a family celebration. The cities almost get empty as workers go back to their villages. And in the villages, it is fun time with ferris wheels constructed on the threashing floor among the paddy fields, and swings strung in every house garden. Women play the rabana, a large drum placed over a fire to make better sound on the cattle hide surface. Games are played, new clothes are worn and traditional sweets made and eaten with delight. It is also a time when the local brews – arrack, toddy and the illicit kasippu literally flow down male gullets.

This year, new year shopping has not been so frenetic; celebrations were rather on low key. People struggle to exist within the ever-increasing cost of living. The ferocity, with which the war is being fought in the north, with the constant reminder of death and injury to young soldiers by screaming ambulance sirens, has dimmed the spirit of the people.

The War: The tiny strip of land connecting the main island to the Jaffna peninsula is the site of the renewed battle termed “Unceasing Waves” by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) fighting for a separate state. The majority Sinhalese resent the demand and fear the government may sell itself out to bring peace to the country. A spate of bomb blasts by LTTE suicide bombers shook Sri Lanka’s capital city – Colombo. In December last, President Chandrika B. Cumaratunge was injured in her eye and head by a LTTE suicide bomber, as she was leaving her final presidential election meeting. Since then, the president has been more or less confined to Temple Trees – her official residence – in Colombo.

New Constitution: The leader of the opposition, Ranil Wiekremasingre and his advisers have met on six occasions with President Cumaratunge in an attempt to make a new constitution for the country to meet the aspirations, if not the demands of the Tamil minority. The Muslim minority has its representatives in both the government and the opposition and align themselves with the majority Sinhalese.

A package with far reaching concessions to the Tamils, just short of granting them Eelam – their proposed state – was set forth by the People’s Alliance (PA), a coalition of Sri Lanka Freedom Party and several other smaller parties. The package was derided by the nationalist Sinhalese and shelved. Now in a bid to settle the northeast problem, the government and opposition attempt consensus on a new constitution. However, the people are not optimistic about the outcome since the president accuses the United National Party (UNP), whose leader is Ranil Wickremasinghe, of being the perpetrator of all evils in the Island, and responsible for all reverses suffered by the government including a military debacle in November last year.

Protest Marches: Hard-line Sinhalese in the meantime are strongly opposing the government’s proposal to accommodate the Norwegian government as mediator in peace talks between the government and the LTTE. An influential section of Buddhist Sangha (clergy) led by four Mahanayake Theros of the Buddhist Sangha sects back these protesters. The Sangha, order of the Buddhist monks, led a protest march on April 6 to demonstrate their opposition to the intervention of the Norwegian government in peace talks in Sri Lanka. Norway donated Rs 100 million to the government of Sri Lanka and the money was used for propaganda. A motorized caravan crisscrossed the country trying to influence the people to accept the government’s peace package, which the Sinhalese felt was far too generous to the Tamil minority. Organizations such as the National Joint Committee and the National Movement Against Terrorism, which spearheaded the protest march and are against intervention, quote history to show that there has to be a close nexus between religion and the state, and that the integrity of the state has to be safeguarded if the religion has to be preserved.

Govt. Bill Defeated: Early this month the government proposed in parliament the abolishment of the Paddy Marketing Board and was defeated, because many of its backbenchers were intentionally absent to oppose the move. The Paddy Marketing Board was a help to the beleaguered farmers was the opinion of those who voted against the bill.

As always, the coming weeks seem crucial, as the country returns to full life after the national holiday.