The nativity scene outside the Kandy Methodist Church.
Christmas Day 2008
NB The brown baby in the crib was bought by Rosemary as a gift from England in 2006
Around Kandy: December 2008 through to March 2009
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| A farewell to Paul, Ina, Abi and Hannah, our special friends in Sri Lanka. From Kandy to Aberdeen - a big change but one they'll all handle well. They sent us this photo, taken on Friday December 19th 2008 just before they left Sri Lanka. We had had our final tearful farewells the day before. |
The nativity scene outside the Kandy Methodist Church. Christmas Day 2008 NB The brown baby in the crib was bought by Rosemary as a gift from England in 2006 |
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| We enjoyed a walk on Christmas Day to the ancient temple at Hindagala near Kandy. Here we are with Anneka, Jenny and Clive. | Overlooking the nearby town of Gampola is a lonely mountain, Ambuluwawa, on which a huge viewing platform has been constructed. We drove to the top and admired the spectacular views, although we didn't climb the tower itself. The lack of safety rails was rather disconcerting. Built to promote religious unity, there are places of worship for all four religions in the grounds beneath the tower. The whole place was rather fine. |
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| At the beginning of March the government decided that the relic of the Buddha's Tooth in Kandy should be exposed ostensibly as a gesture of peace. However, after the long dry spell the popular view was that this had more to do with encouraging rainfall, a traditional reason for exposing the relic. The town was packed with police and army looking after the thousands of pilgrims who came into the city. They queued under temporary covered walkways halfway round the lake to visit the relic. And, as you can see from this picture, it worked! (If you expose the relic long enough, e.g. more than a week....) Apparently the party ended when the police and army got fed up and irritable with each other. | A new Methodist church building was erected in Gampola in record time. The opening was a big affair with the President of the Methodist Church preaching in the service and representatives from the other three religions in attendance. Here we see greetings brought by the local Hindu swami being carefully listened to by two local Buddhist monks. Given the difficulties encountered by some Christian churches in Buddhist areas, it is a tribute to the relationships built up over long years by Methodist ministers, in particular the current minister, Rev. Anura Perera, that the monks should speak at the opening. Sunday March 29th 2009 |
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