Sir Richard Aluwihare Archives

Esala Perahera Richness of a culture Source:Dailynews Perahera – known as Procession in English – has been fascinating many ever since its inception: Fa Hsien, Robert Knox and S W R D Bandaranaike to name a few. Though little known for his collection of Sherlock Holmes style writing apart from his familiar field, much respected late Premier Bandaranaike has dedicated the last story for Esala Perahera in the collection. The story narrates the proud feelings of the writer on seeing the richness of the culture embedded in the event. Sinhala being made an official language came as no surprise from such a politician though raised in a Western environment. Perahera has more depth and meaning than procession; in fact the local term has already become the buzzword among foreigners. Perahera is not just a group moving along in an orderly manner, as its English rendering defines. It can well be ...

Where have all the Burghers gone? – By Pelham Juriansz The word “Burgher” is a very strange word indeed. In fact some might wonder at my name wondering if I am some sort of “Sudda(white man), having a strange foreign name. The name Jansz is a more familiar name but not Juriansz. Then people are familiar with the names of Brohier, Muller, Ludowyke, etc, because of R.L. Brohier, Carl Muller and Professor E.F.C. Ludowyke, all of whom are distinguished writers. As the Dictionary mentions, the word “burgher” means citizen-derived from the word “Burgh” of “Borough”. But, few people are aware that it has a racial connotation- that it refers to descendants of European settlers in Sri Lanka, formerly Ceylon. In the European Middle Ages, a burgher was any freeman of a burgh or borough; or any inhabitant of a borough, a person who lives in town. (Even in modern German the word ...