Sri Lanka celebrates traditional Sinhala and Tamil New Year

Sri Lankans celebrated the dawn of the Sinhala and Tamil new year on Friday at the auspicious time of 7.20 pm. Sri Lanka's President Mahinda Rajapaksa and First Lady Shiranthi Rajapaksa celebrated the Sinhala and Tamil New Year customs Friday at the President's ancestral home, Carlton House in Tangalle.

According to the tradition, the first lady lighted the hearth facing the South at the auspicious time of 7:42 p.m. and boiled the milk.

The President later visited the People's Bank branch in Tangalle for traditional New Year money transactions.

The Sinhala and Tamil New Year dawns when the Sun moves from House of Pisces to House of Aries, completing a cycle of a twelve-month period. Sri Lankans celebrate the event with a host of rituals.