Buddhist devotees arrive to offer prayers amid rainfall at the Kelaniya Buddhist Temple during the 'Vesak festival' to commemorate the birth, enlightenment and death of Buddha, in Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, on May 23. (Photo: AFP)
Sri Lankan Catholics took to community service and almsgiving for the festival of Vesak in a show of religious harmony and reconciliation amid stiff economic challenges facing the Indian Ocean island nation.
The religious festival on May 21-27 commemorates the birth, enlightenment and death of Lord Buddha. This year’s theme is "Let's focus on our own actions instead of others."
In Negombo, known as the “Little Rome” in Sri Lanka due to its large Catholic community, Catholics organized over a hundred food stalls serving meals and water to Buddhists who visited temples.
Jude Anthony, a Catholic businessman from Negombo, said the local marketplace was full of stalls serving coffee, biscuits, vegetable soup, noodles, fried rice, peanuts, bread, cakes, herbal drinks, milk, soft drinks, and ice cream.
“Many Catholic households and Church-run institutions helped decorate the streets with Vesak lanterns and other decorations,” he told UCA News on May 26.
Anthony and his family traveled in a lorry to Colombo to view the specially decorated Vesak pavilions on the day, a Sunday.
The Maris Eco Friends, an environmental organization linked to Maris Stella College, set up a booth showcasing fruit and vegetable plants.
The Public Health Inspectorate (PHI), which grants permission for the food stalls, said more than one hundred stalls were set up in Negombo, underscoring unity and harmony among Buddhists and Christians in the country.
Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith of Colombo in his Vesak message said that Lord Buddha's religion brings a noble invitation and a challenge to the current society that pursues the pursuit of power, wealth and comfort.
“It is important to deeply understand the teachings of the main religions and shape our lives based on them in order to save our beloved motherland from the painful situation it is facing today," he said.
Sadani Scolastica, a food stall organizer from Ragama, emphasized that the festive activities helped to overcome misunderstandings, particularly regarding people converting from one religion to another.
“In a country where Catholics are a minority and Buddhist a majority, such initiatives foster not only goodwill but also cultivate a profound sense of interreligious harmony, showcasing the power of unity in diversity," she said.
Buddhists constitute 70.2 percent while Catholics make up 7.4 percent of Sri Lanka’s around 22 million people.
