My own recollection of Christmas in Sri lanka in the “good old days”

These are some of my memories of Christmas in SL. During the week before Christmas, our family did a shopping trip to Pettah. We bought all our clothes from Marikar Bawa's shop and Vinny tailor made them into shirts and trousers. After buying the usual stuff from various Cross Street shops and the likes of Cargills and Millers, we lunched at the Pilawoos Hotel. My mother, who worked at the Central Bank, made it a point to take all of us to the top floor of the Bank to show the views. At the end of a hectic day, we all dragged ourselves to the Fort railway station, carrying bags of goodies and perhaps the youngest one in the family as well

Christmas day for us started around 5 am when we all woke up with a shout to inspect Santa’s presents (In contrast to the UK, Sri Lankans do not leave a glass of wine or sherry for Santa an a carrot for the Reindeer. Perhaps the time is right for us to start a tradition of leaving a glass of ‘Pol Arakku’ and a bale of ‘undupiyali’)!    

Following this commotion, we all got ready to get to the 6 am Church Service. As we are a family of choristers, we had no option but to go to the Church for both morning services. We wanted to show off our brand new 'crimpline trousers', shirts and shoes. It was a shame to cover all these new clothes with the cassocks but we had our turn after the service. Following the two Christmas day services, all the parishioners were served with kiribath and wandu appa.

Christmas day lunch was usually done wherever my paternal grandmother was living. This was usually in my nanda's place in Koralawella, just behind the Bolgoda lake. While the elders engaged themselves in ‘hitting the bottle’ and gossiping, the younger ones ended up in a 'pahura' and sailed along the lake. The Christmas lunch was usually sumptuous with fresh 'kukul mas' from Nanda's kukul kotuwa. By the evening all the elders were either too drunk or too tired. One such day, my loku mahappa woke up from his afternoon nap to relieve his bladder. In

his inebriated state,he had relieved himself into nanda's wardrobe,thinking that it was the toilet.

Luckily, one of my cousins caught him in the act.If not,nobody would have been able to explain the stink
and the wetness of nanda's clothes!

We ended the day with a singsong which went on for hours. There were occasional intermissions when a 'carol band' or a 'drunken performer' arrived to show off their talents. Usually the performer ended up sprawling on the floor as he was too drunk.

My family in SL still keeps the tradition of Christmas shopping in Pettah. Even though they do not buy anything from Pettah, this brings all of them some happy memories of times gone by. Last year when I visited SL, I dined at a Muslim Hotel, commonly called “Isthar Hotel” (Star Hotel) in Gas Paha. Though it was a shabby place, I never have tasted such lovely food even in a 5* hotel. If you are planning to go there, please visit the old Town Hall in Gas Paha. This is now converted into a museum. The original 5 gas lamps which gave the name to the place are on display. Also you will see many other relics of the colonial era.

Few of my friends and I formed a carol group called 'The Niggers' in the late 70s. We dressed up in whites and (dis)coloured ourselves in soot black to become a 'Nigger Band'. We hired Upali Aiya’s tractor, got on to the open trailer and went round Moratuwa on the Christmas eve singing carols as well as all the calypso songs and the negro songs...... Banana Boat song, Swing Low, Old Black Joe etc. The Niggers consisted of 3 guitarists, a bongo player called ‘Boomfy’ and some strong voiced choristers fro the St Matthias Church choir. We had ample gastronomic as well as monetary remunerations. All proceeds were used to buy school books for the poor children in our area. But ...oh what fun it was to ride in an open trailer, being chased by the 'game kollo kurutto'!

We even published a Magazine giving the route taken by 'The Niggers' and accounts of the proceeds. During my last visit, Ossie Uncle who was our manager, gave me a copy of this magazine. It was sad to see Uncle Ossie incapacitated after a stroke. But whenever I go to Sri Lanka, I make it a point to visit him and reminisce the good old days.

Ruwan De Soysa