Are the children excited to celebrate Sinhala and Tamil New Year?

Hello, my dear Steemian friends, today is April 1st, and the Sinhala and Tamil New Year are close at hand.

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But, not like my childhood, it does not seem very important to the people, as well as children. But when we were children, Sinhala and Tamil New Year were great durations for us.

In those days, we eagerly got ready for the new year. Unlike today, every family had more than five children; my family also has seven siblings. Therefore, a lot of children eagerly awaited New Year's Eve.

Our excitement was increased by our adults because when April approached, they started to clean their houses. Our adults believed that a clean home would bring fortune for the coming year. Therefore, some were engaged in whitewashing the walls of houses, others polished their floors, and some cleaned their gardens.

Some buried bananas underground to ripen. It was one of the New Year customs of those days. To speed up the ripening of bananas, a father and a brother create smoke using coconut husks or paddy husks. This helped to ripen the bananas faster.

New clothes were very important in those days. There were no frocks or suits in the shops like today. My mother stitched clothes at home. Father and mother went to the shop and brought fabrics for all of us in the same color and design. First, mother stitches our father's sarong, then our brothers’ shirts and trousers; finally, ladies’ clothes. We were eagerly looking forward to the Sinhala & Tamil New Year dawn to wear our new clothes.

My brothers were assigned to collect firewood and prepare the hearth in the last few days before the New Year. We also help our brothers to collect firewood. That is for boiling the milk.

Three days before the New Year, mothers and sisters make Kevum (Oil Cakes) Kokis, Aluwa, and other traditional sweets. Still, I can feel the smell of frying oil and fresh sweets, which filled our kitchen those days.

On New Year's Eve, wearing our new clothes, we listened to the radio to find the auspicious time for lighting the hearth. While Mother lit the fire to boil milk, we sat around the hearth and helped the mother to put it on fire. In the meantime, the brothers go to burn the crackers.

When the auspicious time for eating and commencing work arrives, we all sit together to enjoy the first meal of the year. First, my father fed each of us. Then we all eat together.

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The swing gets a prominent place during the New Year. Therefore, after meals, we go to swing them.

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Sharing a meal plate among neighbors is another important custom in the New Year. Crackers are another essential thing in those days; every house burns crackers to celebrate New Year and auspicious times.

In our childhood, that is how we got ready for the Sinhala and Tamil New Year. But in today's world, children have no such excitement in enjoying Sinhala and Tamil New Year.

Thank you for reading my post.