Sri Lankans mark their New Year amid Iran war worries : NPR

A new year began on April 14 for Sri Lankan Buddhists and Hindus. One custom is to boil fresh milk in a new clay pot and let it overflow, considered a way of invoking blessings.

Sanka Vidanagama/NurPhoto via Getty Images

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Sanka Vidanagama/NurPhoto via Getty Images

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — In her home on a tidy working-class lane, Shiranti Rambukkana lit a bonfire in her narrow living room. At exactly 10:51 a.m., she lights a match to start a fire under the kindling on a metal pan in her living room. She throws firelighters to fuel the flames, and soon a clay milk jug set on bricks overflows – to bring prosperity and good fortune in the new year.

The day that marks the New Year differs from culture to culture. On this island located at the tip of India, the Buddhist majority and the Hindu minority celebrate April 14. TThis date marks the end of one solar year and the beginning of another, according to local astrological traditions.

On this day, tradition dictates that there are auspicious times to perform certain rituals to bring prosperity in the new year.

These times are different every year – astrologers decide when they should be, the Ministry of Culture announces them.

So, on New Year’s Eve, almost everyone does the same things at the same time.

And that’s why Rambukkana lights her fireplace to boil milk, facing south and dressed in red at exactly 10:51 a.m. Then her husband, Kasoun, covers his hands with towels, picks up the metal tray containing the kindling, bricks and clay pot and places it outside. It’s time for the next ritual: she rushes back to the kitchen – a corner behind the stairs – and squeezes the grated coconut she has soaked to extract the milk. He goes into his rice cooker. This is for a traditional coconut rice dish that is eaten at 12:06 p.m.

There are other food rituals. Rambukkana’s table is full of treats – from traditional fried lentils and rice flour balls covered in sticky syrup to store-bought chocolate cakes. Her four children – aged 2 ½ to 22 – look at them but know not to touch them. Much of the exhibit will be displayed and distributed to neighbors – Christians, Muslims, Hindus and Buddhists who live on the streets of this working-class neighborhood of Maligawatta.

Being anointed with oil is part of the New Year ceremony in mid-April for Buddhists and Hindus in Sri Lanka.

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The milk, the coconut, the candy, the new clothes, the cash gifts for the family – it cost him over $300 – all his savings for the year. “I secretly saved money without my husband knowing,” she laughs. She takes her money out of her bank – an empty milk powder can, pierced with a slit and furiously sealed with tape.

Rambukkana says she had to show her children a happy new year – “we wanted to celebrate this time” – because last year was so sad. His brother had just died. Her husband was hospitalized for heart surgery. One of his daughters, an athlete, was offered a scholarship to Japan, but they couldn’t even afford her basic expenses so had to turn her down. Her medals hang on a hook above the table – 400 meters, 800 meters, long jump, netball, volleyball – everything she touches, she wins, her brother boasts proudly, as he takes them apart and rattles them.

It became much harder for Sri Lankans to save after America and Israel declared war on Iran in late February. This blocked a key shipping route, the Strait of Hormouz, and drove up the price of fuel and fertilizer. This has had a cascading impact in Sri Lanka, which relies on imported energy from the Gulf. And that drove up the price of everything.

The Rambukkanas therefore eat less, because food is more expensive. They opt for cheaper foods: watery curries, dried fish, rice. They cook less because, she says, cooking gas bottles are up 20%.

However, they count themselves among the lucky ones. In Sri Lanka, the World Food Program says a third of all children are malnourished, and experts say there will be more hunger and poverty as the war continues.

Rambukkana’s toddler plays with his mother’s phone as the minutes pass. It’s 12:06 p.m. Rambukkana takes out his tray of coconut milk rice. It is the first food people should eat in the New Year, symbolizing purity, peace, prosperity and abundance. Her husband picks it up with his fingers and puts some in Rambukkana’s mouth, then in the mouths of their four children. They respectfully touch his feet. He gives them money – gifts are another New Year’s tradition.

An aunt comes in – she lives across the road. Indrani Rambukkana, 70, tells us she watches her son and daughter-in-law cut themselves alive to keep up with rising prices. She tries not to rely on them too much, but she has her own problems: her heart medication used to be available for free at the public hospital. After the start of the war, this resource became scarce. Now she has to buy it from pharmacies, with her precious savings dwindling.

She tells us that she doesn’t speak English but speaks Farsi. Because for 20 years she cared for an older Iranian woman who lived in the Gulf state of Bahrain. She still keeps in touch with the family. She says they are fine. “They don’t have any problems,” she said. “We’re in trouble.”