- “Sri Lankan New Year” is celebrated in the harvesting season of Sri Lanka, also called as the festival of the Sun.
- The celebration includes traditional New Year games where the winning teams win exciting prizes.
- A special marathon event to be organized, marking the “Year of Tolerance”.
- Most of the games events are open to both Sri Lankans and other nationals.
In celebration of the Sinhala and Tamil New Year in 2019, preparations are currently underway to hold “Sri Lanka New Year Festival – 2019”, throughout the day on Friday the 12th April 2019 at Mega Bowl in Zabeel Park, Dubai.
The Consulate General of Sri Lanka, along with the Sri Lankan Community in Dubai and the Northern Emirates will be organizing this unique and festive event.
With the prime objective of instilling “Sri Lankanness” among all participants and thereby bringing all Sri Lankans across the UAE under a one umbrella of celebration, whilst also providing opportunity for non-Sri Lankans to join in, this event will consist of a number of Sri Lankan traditional gaming segments such as Kana Mutti (breaking earthen pots), Kotta Pora (pillow fighting), Aliyata asa thabeema (Placing an eye on the elephant), Sangawuu Amuththa Seweema (finding the secret guest) and etc.
In promotion of Sri Lankan culture, tourism and the concept of sharing related to the New Year, this event will have an array of Sri Lankan cuisine, trade stalls, consultations on purchasing of property in Sri Lanka, free health and dental camps, free spectacle donation and blood donation camp, a model village of Sri Lanka depicting New Year customs of Sri Lanka and much more. Additionally, a special tourism zone promoting Sri Lanka will be set up where non-Sri Lankans will be invited to pose for selfies to share in Social Media. The will be selected winners in the selfie contest who will be given exclusive prizes including air-tickets and hotel-stays in Sri Lanka.
In a symbolic act of sharing the joy of New Year with all the nationalities based in Dubai, the Consulate General of Sri Lanka is also organizing a fun-filled tug-of-war event which will be exclusively opened for the staff and families of the Consulates General based in Dubai, as a prime highlight of the event, towards the evening of the day.
The Ranwala Balakaya ,one of the leading Sri Lankan traditional Sri Lankan Cultural Performance troupe; headed by Sahan Ranwala consisting of 18 members, specialized in folk-dance performance, is ready to take the participants to an unforgettable evening of cultural performances whilst folk song maestro, Saman Lenin and Nilakshi Halapitiya, will be specially flown from Sri Lanka to enthrall the audience of this mega event.
Additionally, expressing solidarity with the initiative of the UAE leadership to declare 2019 as the Year of Tolerance, a special marathon under the name of “UAE- Sri Lanka Run of Tolerance 2019” will be hosted as a major highlight of the event. This running segment will be held around Zabeel Park commencing from Gate Number 3 of the Park in the early morning of the day of the event. Both Sri Lankans and the other nationals can take part in the games as well as this running event.
In February 2018 an event named “Sri Lankan Day 2018” was celebrated at the same venue by Sri Lankans across the UAE and it was considered to be one of the largest Sri Lankan gatherings to be held in UAE. This year, a large crowd of Sri Lankans and other nationals are expected at the Zabeel Park for Sri Lankan New Year celebrations, as this event has been organized to include all the communities living in Sri Lanka.
This event will be opened to everyone “Free of Charge”. Mobitel, a leading mobile phone service operator based in Sri Lanka will join as the Key sponsor in the platinum category for this event and Frico International LLC, based in the UAE, will be sponsoring the event in the Gold category. Additionally, other sponsors joining in the corporate category include RAK Bank, Bank of Ceylon, National Savings Bank of Sri Lanka, Dubai Duty Free, LuLu Group International, Al Ahalia Exchange and Al Ansari Exchange, in addition to Sri Lankan Airlines being the official travel partner and Sri Lanka Rupavahini Corporation (SLRC), the National Television of Sri Lanka being the exclusive electronic Media partner, which is scheduled to telecast highlights of the event as a two hour programme after the event.
Consulate General of Sri Lanka
Dubai and the Northern Emirates
01st April 2019