The Festival of the Sacred Tooth, held annually in July-August in Kandy, the second largest city in Sri Lanka after the capital, is one of the religious holidays celebrated by both Buddhists and followers of Hinduism. The colorful festival ceremonies last ten nights and eleven days.
The Festival of the Sacred Tooth, known as Esala Perahera, is dedicated to a relic housed in a temple located on the grounds of the royal palace in Kandy. According to legend, one of the Buddha's teeth was extracted from his funeral pyre and was kept for some time in the Indian city of Puri. It was believed that the owner of this tooth would become the supreme ruler, which is why there were serious disputes over the relic, which grew into armed conflicts. To save a sacred object for Buddhists, the daughter of one of the Indian rulers hid a tooth in her headdress and brought it to Sri Lanka. By order of the ruler of the island, a temple was erected on the territory of his palace, in which the saved relic was placed. In the 18th century, during the reign of King Kirti Shri Rajasingh, the temple attendants began to arrange a colorful procession so that people who did not have access to the royal palace could bow to the relics.
The festival begins with a ritual in which a part of the trunk of a freshly cut tree is installed in each of the four temples located near Sri Dalada Maligawa, or the Temple of the Tooth. Festive ceremonies are held at each of these temples over the next five days. On the sixth day of the festival, men with whips appear on the streets, the clicks of which drive away evil spirits and notify about the beginning of the procession. The washed streets are followed by traditional dancers, musicians and flag bearers. In the center of the procession, elephants in richly decorated blankets appear majestically. On the back of one of them is a chest with a Sacred Tooth. Processions from the temples of Vishnu, Skanda, Nathi and Pattini join the procession. The holiday, accompanied by colorful processions, lasts for five days. On the morning of the eleventh day of the festival, the water cutting ceremony is performed. This ritual symbolizes the cleansing of the sword of the Hindu god Skanda after his victory over the demons. The head of the Skanda temple cuts the water of the Mahaveli-Ganga river with a ritual sword and plunges a jug into it. The water collected on the day of the end of the festival is stored for a year and is considered to have magical properties.
