Special food for Almsgiving ceremony

Something big is going on in our little house by train tracks. Big preparations for Almsgiving (Sanghika-dana). Budhist ceremony taking place 3 months after death of a family member, which was grandma in the autumn.

The ceremony is supposed to ensure wellbeing of the dead person in the other world. It lasts two days, and major part of it is about food. Firstly monks make their blessing towards grandma and then they are served food. Lucky me, I was serving food to them as well. People from whole village come to the house and get some food too. And it is not just a common food. It is a food for special ocassions like this one only or New year for instance.

Filming of the preparations, that was something. There were many ladies helping in the kitchen. Relatives, friends and paid professionals too. They were cooking simply everywhere. In the kitchen, dining room, corridor, but mainly under the palm trees in the garden. Using a huge pot placed on a big fire. To blend the batter they used a tool similar to shovel and it was so hard to handle, they needed a break every few minutes. They prepared such a variety of dishes I haven`t seen in Sri Lanka yet. From roasted fish over pickled vegetables to some amazing desserts. I can`t wait to edit the videos. (February 2014)

  • Mung aluwa, Srilankan dessert for special occasions, e.g. Sangika dana
  • Sangika dana ceremony in Sri Lanka
  • cooking in the garden for Almsgiving ceremony, Sri Lanka