One Minute Perahera (Video)
This is the Nawam Maha (Gangarama) Perahera editing into one minute. A big part of the Buddhist/cultural tradition is the experience – the heat, the smells, the crowds – but you can get a quick sense of it here.
Peraheras are nominally Buddhist but they’re really an older and wider cultural form. There were dancing Hanumans (a Hindu deity), various Tamil instruments, richly decorated elephants, acrobats, etc. It’s a parade with a religious center, but even that is shifting.
Peraheras are fun and back in the day we a powerful way of communicating both community and authority across physical space. Nowadays they’re televised and all but still very powerful physical, communicative, and ritual acts.
Plus it’s essentially a parade, so quite entertaining to watch. This video is from the Nawam Maha Perahera (2012) in Colombo, organized by the Gangarama Temple.
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