Katina Ceremony at the Sri Lankan temple

2010/11/21

The annual Katina Ceremony held at the Mejirodai Sri Lankan Buddhist temple was held on 21st Sunday,of November 2010. It started at 7 o`clock in the evening with the Buddha Pooja at the nearby Japanese Temple.

The playing of the Sri Lankan traditional drum signifies the start of the ceremony.

Monks are seated and the listeners are seated below the monks sitting level. After the traditional Sri Lankan way of starting the Japanese chief monk starts chanting in the Japanese way. We followed the Sri Lankan chantings but the Japanese chantings were little bit difficult to follow.

Monks leave the Japanese temple in a row to the Sri Lankan temple taking the "katina poojawa" with them in a parade. Katina Poojawa means the sacred cheevaras and Pirith book kept in another place away from the temple. Monks keep them away from the temple to keep them safe from the rains in early ages, because the monks lived in caves and rain could destroy the books.

The monks getting ready to the Dhana, the meal given by normal people. The different colors of the robes indicate the group or "nikaya" they belong to in Sri Lankan Buddhism. Nikaya means the group where the monk entered to practice Buddhism. It is explained that nikaya is like rivers which at last ends up in the same big ocean called Buddhism.

After the meals, the monks are given a gift for taking part in the Dhana.

The listeners and the monks listening to the Thank You speech of the sub chief monk of the temple.
Special thanks to Priyanka Deshani for the pictures.

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