COLOMBO: A Ramadan festival in Colombo is promoting the heritage of Sri Lanka’s diverse Muslim communities by showcasing their rich cultures in the heart of the capital.
Muslims make up less than 10 percent of Sri Lanka’s 22 million people, who are predominantly Sinhalese Buddhists.
The Salam Ramadan festival, which opened on Friday and will run until the end of the month, is putting the spotlight on the Moor, Memon, Malay and Dawoodi Bohra ethnic groups.
Throughout the event, they are set to participate in cultural performances and interactive sessions to highlight their customs, while also sharing their traditional food to the residents of Colombo.
The event is organized by the government of Western Province, home to the Sri Lankan capital and the country’s most densely populated region.
“This is to show harmony, peacefulness with all communities, and we want to spend our spirit of a great month of holy Ramadan to everyone that’s around,” Western Province Gov. Hanif Yusuf told Arab News.
Festive lights and decorations will be on display in Colombo’s main shopping areas throughout the festival, as restaurants and food stalls across the capital serve up special dishes popular among the Sri Lankan Muslim community, such as watalappam, a coconut custard pudding, and adukku roti, a layered crepe pie.
One of Salam Ramadan’s main goals is to shift the mainstream perspective that Sri Lankan Muslims comprise only one ethnic group, says Aman Ashraff, deputy chairman of the Salam Ramadan program.
“The Sri Lankan Muslim community is a very diverse Muslim community. It comprises four ethnic groups: the Sri Lankan Moors, the Sri Lankan Malays, the Sri Lankan Memons, and the Sri Lankan Dawoodi Bohras; all of whom have had a lasting impact in the social fabric of Sri Lanka for centuries,” he told Arab News.
Each ethnic group has “a rich, distinctive cultural fabric” of its own, Ashraff added.
“Our hope for all our guests … to this event … is that they are able to discover the warmth, the fellowship, and the spirit of Ramadan that is enjoyed normally by Muslims, that is cherished by Muslims,” he said.
The festival is also an opportunity for Muslims to showcase the Ramadan “spirit of brotherhood and fellowship,” including the practice of inviting non-Muslims to their homes to break fast for iftar.
“In hosting an event of this nature, we are able to do it at a larger scale, we are able to invite Sri Lankans from all walks of life, the public … to experience all of this firsthand, and to to be able to understand why Muslims cherish this sense of brotherhood amongst themselves,” Ashraff said.
“To the Muslim community, their fellow Sri Lankans, be they Sinhalese, Tamil, or Burghers, are as near and dear as brothers and sisters of their own.”
