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Girl smiling, Kitulgoda. Photo by my cousin Senuri.

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My mother’s family is from a small village near Agalawatte. This is inland Kalutara, a place full of paddy fields and hills. Every Avurudu the people in the village celebrate with games and eating and prizes and stuff. This is the first time I’ve attended the things, and I’m glad I did. It’s very hot but also very fun. I can also eat large amounts of kavum.

Smashing the clay pot. Almost.

Avurudu games range from races to climbing a giant greased pole. Probably the most interesting is the, uh, local pinata game. Wherein a blindfolded person tries to smash a clay pot. All of these games are fiendishly difficult. The pot is rather small and one starts six or seven paces away from it. I didn’t see anyone successfully smash the thing. Often a person would get disoriented and walk towards the crown, pole raised. Good fun.

String of kavum

Another game is, essentially, bobbing for kavum. As much as I like kavum, this seemed exclusively for kids. I also heard that there’s usually a Miss Avurudu contest, which I sadly missed. Lovely time, though. I’ve never celebrated a traditional Avurudu and it’s quite nice.

Full set on Flickr. Note that many of these photos are by my 14 year old cousin Senuri.