Avurudu games and rituals

Avurudu is unusual among new year celebrations in being governed entirely by clock times set in advance. Astrologers calculate the nekath, the auspicious moments, and these are published nationally: the time to bathe for the old year, the time the new year dawns, the time to light the hearth, the time to eat, the time to exchange money, the time to anoint with oil, and the time to leave for work.

Families follow them precisely. At the appointed minute across the country, kitchens light up simultaneously and firecrackers go off. It is one of the most striking pieces of synchronised behaviour anywhere, and it accounts for the odd sensation of a whole nation moving to the same schedule for two days.

Between the end of the old year and the start of the new lies the nonagathe, a period of several hours that belongs to neither. During it, nothing should be started: no cooking, no business, no work, no transactions. It is traditionally spent at temple, or in quiet religious observance at home.

For a visitor this is the most interesting hour of the festival, because the country genuinely stops. Shops that were open close, kitchens go cold, and temples fill. If you happen to be in Sri Lanka during Avurudu, spending the nonagathe at a village temple is a more interesting choice than almost anything else available that day.

The first food of the new year is kiribath, rice cooked in thick coconut milk and set, then cut into diamonds. It is served at the appointed time with lunumiris, a fiery onion and chilli sambol, and with jaggery or banana. Kiribath marks every significant beginning in Sinhalese culture, not just the new year: births, new houses, first days.

Alongside it comes the sweet table: kavum, a deep-fried oil cake of rice flour and treacle with a distinctive peak; kokis, a crisp fried rosette made with a shaped iron dipped in batter; aluwa, a diamond-cut sweet; and mung kavum, made with green gram. Households compete quietly over whose kokis are crispest.

The ganu denu, the first transaction of the new year, is performed at its appointed time: money is exchanged within the family, often elders giving to children, to ensure prosperity. Betel leaves are offered to elders as a gesture of respect, received with both hands.

The head anointing, hisa thel gaema, is performed at a temple or at home at its own nekath, with herbal oil applied to the head by an elder or a monk, often while standing on a particular leaf and facing a prescribed direction. Finally, work is symbolically begun at the appointed time, which may mean touching a tool or writing a line, before the day returns to celebration.

Avurudu games are the public, joyful side of the festival, held in villages, schools and neighbourhoods across the country in the days around the new year. They are competitive, chaotic and open to anyone standing nearby, visitors included.

Kotta pora is pillow fighting while balanced on a horizontal pole. Kana mutti bideema involves being blindfolded, spun, and given a stick to break a hanging clay pot. Lissana gaha nageema is climbing a greased pole for a prize at the top. There is also sack racing, tug of war, a bun-eating race, musical chairs, and the raban, a large flat drum played by several women at once, whose sound is the signature noise of the season.

Puthandu, the Tamil new year, falls at the same time and shares the underlying astrological calendar, which is why the holiday is officially the Sinhala and Tamil New Year. Observances differ in detail: the kanni, an arrangement of auspicious items viewed first thing on new year morning, and a distinct set of festive dishes.

In the north and east and in the plantation districts, this is the version you will see. Kolam patterns are drawn at doorways, temples are visited, and families gather for a formal meal. The shared timing across both communities is one of the more quietly significant things about the Sri Lankan calendar.

Avurudu is the most welcoming time of year to be in Sri Lanka and the most disruptive to travel. Shops, restaurants and banks close for several days, intercity transport is packed for around a week, and domestic hotel demand peaks. Book everything well ahead.

In exchange, hospitality opens up. If you are invited into a home for kiribath, accept, bring something small, and follow your host's lead on the timings. If you find yourself at a village games event, join in. Nobody expects you to know what you are doing, and that is broadly the point.