The “Vasath Siriya 2023” Sinhala and Tamil New Year Festival, which will be held by the President’s Office, the Prime Minister’s Office, the Ministry of Public Administration and the staff of a number of ministries and public sector institutions including competitions open to all Sri Lankans and competitions for foreigners, will be held on Saturday, April 22nd, Colombo, Galle Face green.
After the New Year games and competitions held from 7.00 am to 5.00 pm, a musical concert has also been organized from 6.00 pm to 12.00 pm.
Competition events have been organized under 03 sections namely State Section, Open Section and Guest Section.
18 women’s and men’s competitions will be held for the staff members of ministries and government institutions, members, family friends and children. Wrestle, bun eating, soup drinking, threading a needle, 100 meter run, blind feeding, steeplechase, balloon burst, candle lighting, lime spoon run, tug of war, musical chairs contest, musical hat contest, folk Singing, toffee pulling, best laugh, biggest belly selection are among the competition events.
There is also an open division where any Sri Lankan can participate with 16 events including the “Pura Sariya” Standard Bike Race, Marathon Race, Sliding Tree, Tug of War, Wrestling, Candle Lighting, Balloon Bursting, Eyeing the Elephant, Toffee Pulling, Best Smile. It includes pageant events for everyone, big and small, including the prince and princess of the year.
Also, a guest section is open for foreigners, embassies, foreign institutions and staff from nearby hotels and it consists of 10 competitions that foreigners can enjoy.
A model of an environment with a village house is also recreated here, demonstrating the beautiful relationship between the village and the village house in the past rural society. It displays the form of a village house which includes sweets, costumes, Sinhala New Year rituals and many village games and demonstrations including drumming, pancha kelia, olindah kelia, chakgudu, folk music, wrestling, horn kelia. Scissor swings, bamboo shooting shows, a bazaar and a dispensary have also graced the grounds.
The Music concert will begin at 7:00 pm at the venue. The performance experience of the year will be presented by Sahan Ranwala’s leading Ranwala Band, followed by the Mead Land Band, a popular band of the island. Popular singers of the island including Rukantha Gunathilake, Sanuka Wickramasinghe, Windy Gunathilake, Tashni Perera, Dulmina Perera, Hijas Taleesh, Ashanya Premadasa are going to participate to make it colorful.