Kataragama Esala Festival
For two weeks before the Esala full moon, Kataragama holds nightly peraheras, fire-walking and kavadi dancing, ending with water-cutting in the Menik Ganga.
Kataragama is one of the few places in Sri Lanka that Buddhists, Hindus, Muslims and the indigenous Vedda people all hold sacred, and its Esala festival is the biggest gathering of the year at the Kataragama sacred city. The festival runs for about two weeks and ends on Esala Poya, the full moon in July or August.
Every night, a perahera leaves the Maha Devalaya, the shrine of God Kataragama (known to Hindus as Murugan or Skanda), with decorated elephants, drummers and dancers. The crowd is just as much part of it: devotees perform kavadi, dancing with arches of peacock feathers on their shoulders, and some take vows that include walking across beds of burning embers or piercing their skin with small hooks and skewers.
Many pilgrims arrive on foot. The Pada Yatra is a pilgrimage walk that starts weeks earlier in the North and East and follows the coast and forest tracks down to Kataragama, timed to reach the town for the festival.
On the last day, the festival ends with the water-cutting ceremony in the Menik Ganga, the river that runs past the shrine. Before entering the temple grounds, pilgrims bathe in the river, so it is crowded from dawn.
Kataragama is very busy during the festival, so book a room early, or stay in Tissamaharama and combine the trip with a safari in Yala.
At a glance
- When: Usually in July
- Duration: About 2 weeks, ending on Esala Poya (July or August)
- Venue: Kataragama Maha Devalaya and the Menik Ganga, Kataragama
- Organizer: Ruhunu Maha Kataragama Devalaya
- Entry: Free