On our last weekend in Midigama we were invited to join the
almsgiving ceremony for
Bambera’s father, who passed away in June after a tragic accident. According to
Buddhist religion the family of someone who die will hold an almsgiving for
monks three months after the person has passed away, and then repeat on year
after. Apparently this is done because they believe almsgiving will raise the
merit of the departed and, as they believe in a life after death this will give
them a bigger change of being born into a better next life.
Ten monks
came in the morning for the almsgiving of our friend’s father. The number of
monks coming varies and obviously the more monks the better it is and I think
this is something the family will all put their money into, it also seem like
the more monks the higher status you have. The ceremony started with the monks
being seated (on the floor) with the closest family sitting inside the room
with them; in this case being the wife, the sons and the brothers and sisters
of the departed. The head monk started off with a prayer and everyone inside
and outside bowed their heads and held their hands in Namaste. After the first
part of the prayer was finished only the closest family kept their hands in
Namaste and the prayer now seemed to be more directed at them.
I found the highlight of the ceremony to be after the prayer when family and friends who
wanted could serve the monks rice & curry. Everyone grabbed a bowl each and
served monk after monk from their bowl. When the monks finished eating the family
and some of the closest friends gave them gifts to be taken back to the temple.
Language can be a little tricky sometimes so it is hard to understand the
details of it but it would all be to raise merit for the departed. The ceremony
was finished with some sort of parade with the head monk and one of the sons.
When the
monks left it were time for everyone else to eat, and what a show! Rice &
curry (in as many different ways you can only imagine) was placed on the floor
and you just had to push your way through to get in. And Sri Lankan food is
known for being spicy and this was definitely not cooked for foreigners so I
have to admit we struggled, not to mention it would have been around 35 degrees
as well; the food was super hot and the weather was too. But what an
experience.
The next
day Manike told me they had cooked 100kg of rice and in the afternoon they had
to cook another five kilos for the latecomers. They estimated that 300 people
showed up for the almsgiving and this is supposed to be a very good thing for
the family.
The
almsgiving with our friends’ family was a great ending to a beautiful holiday. Although it was a tragedy that Bambera lost his father the almsgiving is seen as a happy day and we feel extremely grateful of being a part of this family’s life and that we get to
join them on special occasions like this. Hopefully it wont be too long before
we see them again next time.
 |
| A very tired Ravihan after a long day. |
I apologize if the details about the Buddhist almsgiving is not correct as this is how my friends have explained it to me and I guess it can vary from country to country, and as said language can easily be misunderstood sometimes.
