Gangaramaya Nawam Maha Perahera! It just rolls off the tongue. How can I forget that name?

But I do.

I tried calling it by the shortened version, Navam Perahera, but that doesn’t help much. But I should remember it. Our entire trip was planned so that this would be our grand finale. A highlight to end all highlights. Something to make the Fabulosity Meter scream until it hurt!

Billed as the the “Most Colorful and Prestigious Buddhist Cultural Pageant held in Sri Lanka”, it is a three hour procession full of mesmerising drumbeats, traditional dances and colourful costumes. Cast your mind back to the blog on the Kandy Cutural show. That was just a warm up for what we will see on the streets of Colombo. The dancers, the musicians, the plate twirlers, and so much more, but the crowning glory is the parade of elephants in their costumes. A true celebration of heritage and artistry!

And to top it all off, Buddha’s tooth will make a very rare appearance. We can hardly wait.

But what sets this apart from all other religious ceremonies and festivals, is that it is put together by the Gangaramaya Temple, probably the most important of all the Buddhist temples in Sri Lanka, and the leader of that temple has insisted on welcoming other religions. So the Parade will feature dancers and musicians from the Hindu, Muslim and Christian communities. Because of this, the Navam Perahera Festival has become famous thoughout the world for its inclusivity, and tomorrow there will be a huge contingent of dancers from Thailand and Indonesia, and the Ambassador from Thailand is the guest of honour. What a pleasure to see such harmony in the world we now find ourselves in.

We asked our agent months ago to buy tickets for us.

The Procession takes a circular path through the streets of Colombo for well over a mile. The sidewalks are lined with rows of cheap plastic seats in various states of decay, all with numbers on them, but none in numerical order. Our agent has bought us tickets but we have no idea where.

The day before the procession, Desha takes us to pick up the tickets. He has another job starting tomorrow and has told us this will be the last we see of him. We try to look sad.

We pass by the Gangaramaya temple, where the dignitaries will sit. Across from the temple, there is a covered wooden platform with ten rows of rather grand upright wooden dining chairs with cushions. A definite step up from the plastic chairs the rest of us will be sitting on. Next to them is another platform, a little lower down with ten rows of brand new metal chairs with padded seats and backs, upholstered in a rather smart royal blue. Now that’s where I belong, I muse. That would do very nicely.

But I would want to be in the front row. Any further back and my view would be impaired. That would never do. I don’t know why I am worrying about it, we are destined for a cheap plastic chair somewhere along the route.

The ticket office is a rather grand name for what looks like a well used garden shed made of plywood. Not encouraging. There is a roughly hewn hole on one side into which Desha is talking. It’s a long discussion. Considering how past ticket buying occasions have been handled, we are getting a little worried. He seems to be getting agitated. We seem to be getting a little more worried.

Finally, he turns from the shed, hands us two tickets and says he has to leave, which he does rather promptly. He seems in a hurry to get away.

Now I am way past being concerned.

“Desha” I yell after him “where are our seats?”

He turns and says “look for the blue chairs”.

OMG!

We go back to the blue chairs and look at our tickets.

Numbers 10 and 11.

OMG! OMG!

I know, I sound like a valley girl, but we are in the front row, just where we belong.

We double check the tickets, and notice that drinks and a snack are included.

After three weeks, our agent has finally come through. This is amazing. Maybe we can forgive him all the past fxxx ups.

What am I thinking! ABSOLUTELY NOT!

The parade starts at 7pm.

We take our seats and find ourselves looking straight across the road to the entrance of the temple.

Perfect!

The evening starts slowly with speeches, and then a parade of dignitaries, most of whom then take their seats across from us outside the temple or on the platform right next to us.

I am beginning to feel special. Trust me, it’s not a new feeling! But it is one that has been missing over the past weeks!

Once the dignitaries are all seated, a parade of umbrellas walks slowly by.

There is only one small criticism about the entire evening. There is nothing to tell us about the participants. We have no idea why a lot of young men, standing way to close to each other, are walking in a long line carrying umbrellas. But it certainly is colourful.

He is followed by this lady who was clearly inspired by the look

Then things really get going, A band of drummers, beat out a driving rhythm

and are joined by a group of amazing dancers.

This is going to be good. And our seats could not be better

There are two policemen whose sole duty is to stop people from standing in front of us.

Now this is how I should be treated.

There is a pause in the procession, until (note: you might have to click twice on the arrow)

We notice a very sad fact. All the elephants in the parade have their back legs shackled which you can see clearly in the video. They also have shackles hanging around their neck and down to their front feet. It seems an inhumane way to treat any animal especially ones so revered that they are always featured in their religious ceremonies.

Next comes a dance group wearing amazing costumes and masks

As I try to take a close up of one, he seems to send me a very clear message, but one only understood by the English

And then there is another elephant

I think he must have just let rip with a huge fart.

And then the man that follows each elephant

He carefully scoops up anything the elephant might leave behind, and rather than disposing of it in a sanitary way, he carefully carries it over to the sidewalk and deposits it right in front of us

It steams for a while. Another message perhaps? And you don’t have to be English to understand this one.

Fortunately we have little time to dwell on it, as the plate twirlers arrive

And then the fire dancers

and the solo fire dancer

And the peacock dancers

And the stilt dancers

And whatever the hell these men are

And on and on it went. Every dance more athletic, more amazing and more colourful than the last one. And all of them interspersed with elephants and their fabulous costumes and their not so fabulous, but very sizeable, droppings!

And then, two and a half hours later came the moment we had all been waiting for. The appearance of the Buddha’s tooth. There is absolute silence. No music no dancers, just a low hum of anticipation from the crowd. Young men, dressed all in white, arrive and lay out hundreds of yards of white cloth forming a path for what is to come

Three magnificent elephants side by side, walk along the street, their costumes lit up with strings of lights. The middle elephant, chosen because of its enormous tusks (known as a “tusker”) steps carefully along the wide fabric. From its incredible tusks hang several white strings of beads. On its back sits a shrine covered in lights. Inside the shrine, we are told, sits Buddha’s tooth. Of course it is not visible to anyone, but the excitement is palpable. The crowd stands as one and bursts into applause and prayer.

It is the grand finale to our grand finale.

It is hard to know who is cheering louder. Us or the Fabulosity Meter.

One hell of a way to say goodbye to Sri Lanka.

But wait, there’s more……………………….our travels are not over………………