The Sri Lanka Sports Club (SSC) in Ho Chi Minh City celebrated the Sinhala and Tamil New Year on 22 April 2018 at “The Village” Restaurant complex, with the participation of Sri Lankans living in and around southern Viet Nam. The Sinhala and Tamil New Year is the largest annual celebration by the SSC.
This year's celebrations commenced with the singing of the National Anthem in both Sinhala and Tamil languages, followed by the invoking of blessings of God Ganesha. Thereafter, all children present were invited to pay obeisance to their parents by giving sheaves of betel leaves. It was followed by an animated video prepared by a Sri Lankan graphic artist depicting Sri Lankan New Year traditions and their meaning.
President of the SSC Mr. Jeewantha Jayasuriya, delivering welcome remarks, said that this year, SSC decided to introduce new features to make the celebrations also educative so that the younger generations are aware of the traditions and the meaning of the New Year.
Addressing the gathering, Ambassador of Sri Lanka to Viet Nam Hasanthi Urugodawatte Dissanayake expressed her happiness over the fact that the National Anthem was sung in both Sinhala and Tamil languages for the first time at this annual event. She explained the background of the Tamil National Anthem as well as the significance of singing the National Anthem in both languages. She stressed the importance of unity and one Sri Lankan identity for progressing as a country, and appreciated the unity among all Sri Lankans in southern Viet Nam, which stands as an example to other Sri Lankan expatriate communities around the world.
Ambassador Dissanayake was presented with a special memento for the services that she has rendered to the Sri Lankan community in Viet Nam.
All present were then treated to a sumptuous buffet of traditional sweetmeats prepared by the community, following which new year games were played. The games included traditional Avurudu games such as tug-o-war, balancing the lime, eating hung buns with hands tied behind, feeding yogurt blind-folded, sack race, guessing the number of seeds in a papaw and marking the eye of the elephant while being blindfolded.
The Ambassador and the sponsors gave away prizes for the games and the raffle draw.
The celebrations ended with a grand buffet dinner, prepared by the Sri Lankan community.
In Ha Noi, a simple celebration to mark the New Year was held on 14 April at the official residence of the Ambassador with the participation of Sri Lankan students and the staff of the Embassy and their families.
