by Melani Manel Perera

Many events are organised in Colombo and northern Sri Lanka to celebrate the birth of Jesus, ‘prince of peace’. Concerts, dances and gift giving are part of the initiatives involving Catholic, Buddhist and Muslim religious and spiritual leaders, in an atmosphere of national harmony, after 30 years of war.

Colombo (AsiaNews) – The Sri Lankan Army and Catholics have come together to organise activities to celebrate Christmas in the northern part of the country, especially those areas still recovering from war. Christian priests and nuns as well as Buddhist monks took part in a number of events marking the birth of Jesus, the ‘Prince of Peace’, like carols, dances, gift giving and help and attention for the neediest of their fellow men and women. Army officials stressed the aspect of “forgiveness” of the celebration, an important gift brought by Christianity.

At St Joseph’s College Chapel in Colombo, the Sri Lankan Army’s Christian Association organised a Christmas concert last Sunday.

Army chaplain Fr Joseph Benedict read the opening prayer. He gave thanks to God for all the soldiers who fought to restore peace and blessed the army and its members.

The rector of St Joseph College, Fr Sylvester Ranasinghe, explained the Christian message, stressing the importance of recognising the symbols of Christmas in today’s society and live our lives accordingly.

Last Friday, the Seva Vanitha Army Branch organised an evening of Christmas carols for war heroes recovering at the Ranaviru Sevana rehabilitation centre in Ragama. Ms Manjulika Jayasuriya, head of the Seva Vanitha, opened the ceremony, and later handed out gifts to the centre’s patients.

The Interreligious Foundation for National Harmony and the Child Foundation for Ethnic Harmony were behind another event that took place on 11 December at Jaffna’s Methodist church.

“Many people took part in the evening’s function,” Fr Sarath Hettiarachi, president of the Interreligious Foundation for National Harmony, told AsiaNews. “They included 500 Buddhist monks, Sinhalese visitors, the Gampaha Methodist Church Choir as well as some Muslim and Hindu religious leaders.”

Soldiers and a large group Tamil came together. This, the priest said, “is the first time in almost 30 years of civil war that Christmas is celebrated in Jaffna this way, all this in the name of national harmony.”

• sri
• lanka
• colombo
• north
• tamil
• sinhalese
• catholics
• buddhists
• muslims
• army
• celebration
• christmas
• jesus