Faithful
Over the past month, we stepped into temples, mosques, and churches across Sri Lanka. These images capture the colour, scale, and quiet presence of many of the sites we visited. They reflect the presence of faith in Sri Lanka, particularly that of Buddhism, which is viewed and described always as a way of living, rather than a religion.
A small HIndu temple with the god Hanuman, the monkey god. This temple is a stop for tea pickers on their way to work.
The famous red mosque of Colombo
A stupa seems to be shining with heavenly light.
The cave Buddha of Pidadurangala
The 5 cave temples of Dambulla. These temples were in use for more than two millenia. They gather over 150 Buddha statues beneath richly painted ceilings. It's one of Sri Lanka's more concentrated and atmospheric expressions of Buddhist devotion.
One of the Dambulla cave temples.
Richly painted walls and ceilings in one of the Dambulla caves.
At the temple in Kandy, visitors make a donation of flowers to worship the Buddha.
The flower market in front of a temple.
Ganesh, one of the main Hindu gods.
NO idea, who this is or even WHY? Our guide said it was a decoration the temple decided to have. Ah, okay.
In Kandy, Buddhists visit the Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic during the annual Esala Perahera, when the "tooth relic of the Buddha" is honoured in a grand procession of dancers, drummers and elephants. This happens in the evening and, afraid of the crowds, we stayed away. However, the gathering turned out to be small as Sri Lanka was also playing England in cricket that evening and NOTHING keeps a Sri Lankan from cricket!
The day we got very muddy and very wet.
No beverage is more important to Sri Lanka or our UK friends than tea. See what we learned and how all this exposure to tea has impacted me and Gary. Enjoy!