Finally, the waiting was over to enjoy all the delicious New Year sweets, pickles, sambols, fresh fruits, and berries straight from the trees as the New Year finally arrived!
The happiest memories of our childhood were always during the New Year season (Avurudhu). It was a truly unforgettable seasonal joy — a time when we children received brand-new clothes, enjoyed an abundance of sweets and treats, and gathered with all our relatives under one roof. As the household busily prepared for Avurudhu, those sweet childhood memories began flooding my mind once again.
During Avurudhu, the air is filled with the sweet aroma of oil cakes (kavum), kokis (crispy rice-flour sweets), and ripe bunches of bananas smiling from the kitchen. Nature itself dresses up to welcome the coming New Year — Erabadu trees along the fences bloom with deep tomato-red flowers, the cuckoo bird sings its seasonal melody, the scent of Avurudhu sweets drifts through the air, the rhythmic pounding of rice from village mills echoes nearby, and bundles of leftover straw lie scattered across open fields. Everything tells the same beautiful story of a New Year about to arrive.
My grandmother and I completed most of the preparations, but making kavum was the most time-consuming task of all. Since the rice flour had been prepared well in advance, we could only begin frying the oil cakes by afternoon. Frying kavum requires great care and attention to detail. The batter is poured into very hot oil, a sharp skewer is inserted into the center, and hot oil is gently splashed into the middle while slowly lifting the skewer to shape the uncooked batter into a small mound. As I mentioned, it is a delicate process — the most difficult part is forming the “konde”, the knotted-hair-like top of the kavum, by skillfully splashing hot oil while rotating the wooden skewer. Once properly fried and stored in an airtight container, these sweets can be kept for about two weeks.
I removed the soot-covered pot, cleaned the wood-fired hearth, and applied a fresh layer of clay to the stove before heading to the temple during the inauspicious period. Meanwhile, my brother and grandmother prepared a new lantern to welcome Avurudhu Kumaraya, the spirit of the New Year. I managed to complete many tasks during this time, as the inauspicious hours fell at night.
Our traditional New Year officially began the following day. All activities were carried out according to auspicious times. The very first ritual was lighting a new fire in the freshly prepared hearth and cooking a pot of milk rice (kiribath). Usually, the rice used comes from the newly harvested paddy before the New Year. Some households even build a new hearth and boil milk, as overflowing milk is considered a sign of prosperity. It is a deeply meaningful tradition that the entire nation — nearly 20 million people — cooks the first meal of the New Year at the same auspicious moment. During this same time, people exchange money or valuables and begin their first official task of the New Year.
My grandmother never allowed us to give anything from the house or bring anything into the house during inauspicious times. No task could begin without first drawing pure water from the well. In return, she would place a small pouch called “Ale,” containing spices and a coin, into the well before drawing the water.
My brother began his first official task of the New Year by planting a mango tree, a symbolic exchange with Mother Earth.
From the dawn of the New Year onward, every ritual carried out at auspicious times was welcomed with the light of firecrackers, the rhythmic beats of the raban (tambourine), and the ringing of the village temple bell. Traditional villagers believe that these loud sounds announce the New Year to the entire village and help drive away negative forces. Light green is considered the auspicious color for the New Year. Seeing an entire nation of over 20 million people follow the same rituals together is like a beautiful, meaningful song — one that calls for prosperity and unity.
As in every year, this New Year our eldest aunt and her daughter visited our home with gifts for my grandmother and traditional New Year sweets.
My grandmother lit the oil lamp on the Avurudhu table and fed each of us a mouthful of milk rice, as she is the eldest in our family. Our brother happily finished two full plates of New Year sweets and received a loving remark from our elderly aunt about his impressive appetite.
Love to all of you,
MegaToon Me
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