Food Stalls Open in Sri Lanka for the Annual Vesak and Poson Holidays

COLOMBO, SRI LANKA — The Vesak festival, which commemorates the birth, enlightenment and death of the Buddha, is often considered to be the most important day on Sri Lanka’s Buddhist religious calendar. It marks a season of donations, pilgrimages and travel from rural areas to cities for sightseeing.

Visitors are drawn to the cities, especially Colombo, the commercial capital of Sri Lanka, to view drawings depicting stories from the Buddha’s life, the lighting and paper lanterns adorning houses and streets and Vesak lantern competitions, says Premakumara De Silva, a professor at the Department of Sociology of the University of Colombo.

But the attractions that draws the largest crowds, both city residents and visitors alike, are the Dansal, he says. Dansal are roadside stalls with food, drinks and desserts where people give food as an act of merit.

In Sinhala, Dansal refers to multiple stalls. A Dansala is a single stall.
This year, Vesak day was May 21, and celebrations lasted for multiple days. Some stalls will also open for Poson, the full moon day on June 19, which commemorates the arrival of Buddhism in Sri Lanka, De Silva says.

More than 2,000 public health inspectors visited 4,591 Dansal over the Vesak period, says Upul Rohana, president of the Public Health Inspector’s Union of Sri Lanka, in a phone interview. Inspectors closed down 161 Dansal due to poor hygiene conditions and completely seized and destroyed food items in 19 Dansal due to a danger of food poisoning.

Although food is the most common donation during these two religious days, anything can be given as alms, De Silva says. Donations of construction materials, clothes or school items are sometimes given during this time. It’s also common to give blood, or even to sign up to be an eye donor upon one’s own death.

Due to floods and landslides that occurred in Sri Lanka (see GPJ story here) in the days preceding Vesak this year, the government and Buddhist clergy appealed to the public to forego Vesak Dansal this year and instead donate money and food to flood-affected people. In response, many Dansal were cancelled or were operated on a reduced scale.

Buddhism is the majority religion in Sri Lanka, with about 70 percent of the population, or 14.3 million people, identifying themselves as Buddhists, according to census data.

“The concept of Dana, or almsgiving, is a fundamental discipline of Buddhists in Sri Lanka,” De Silva says. The Sinhala word Dansala refers to a hall where such alms, or donations, are given.

Historical records show that kings in Sri Lanka donated food and provided shelter to people who undertook pilgrimages during this period, De Silva says. Pots of water were placed to quench their thirst by the roadside, and small huts built to house the travellers.

Today, Dansal are operated regularly in urban and suburban areas, De Silva says.

Rules set by government authorities have standardized the Dansal and created greater awareness towards hygienic preparation of food.

Most Dansal open in the evening, when people travel to see Vesak decorations, De Silva says, but some operate during the day.

The stalls offer a variety of food and drink. Full meals of rice and curry in an enclosed space with tables and chairs, or snack meals of boiled lentils or root vegetables are among the most common. Drinks in plastic cups and ice cream cones are served by the roadside.

“The concept of consuming food at Dansal is no longer restricted to the poor or to travellers, but is open to all cross sections of people and communities,” De Silva says.

People from various walks of life are involved with Dansal, including operators, consumers and inspectors. Here are three of their stories.

The Dansala Operator

Lakshman Perera, 63, has since 1988 led a group of about 20 of his neighbors to organize a rice and curry dinner Dansala during Vesak every year.

“A Dansala is the work of an entire neighborhood, a community,” Perera says. “One person cannot do it alone.”

This year, the group donated money raised for the food that would have been prepared on May 21 and donated it to families affected by the floods. The Dansala operated normally on May 22 and 23 and fed around 2,000 people, Perera says.

“This concept of Dansal has, over the years, helped many with meals,” Perera says. “The hospitality from one village to the other created harmony.”

Around 600 kilograms (1,323 pounds) of rice and 60 kilograms (132 pounds) of lentils were cooked each day, Perera says. The cooked rice and lentil curry were served with curries of soya meat, mango, dried fish and an onion chutney. For dessert, there were ripe bananas.

Around 350,000 Sri Lankan rupees ($2,357) were raised from individual donations and businesses in their neighborhood, Perera says. Some people also donated ingredients for the meal.

Perera hired a cook and helper to lead the cooking process, but the organizing families all pitched in to help with the food preparation and service.

The food was served in a special tent constructed of metal sheets and fabric. Tables and chairs were set out for people to eat in comfort, Perera says.

Perera is a Buddhist, but his fellow organizers include people from other faiths.

“We hope to continue this act of merit and as Buddhists continue to practice almsgiving,” Perera says. “We are very blessed by this deed.”

The Dansal Visitor

Dulakshi Fernando, 21, says her earliest memory of eating at a Dansala is from when she was around 9 years old. Her favorite Dansal are the rice and curry ones, as well as the ice cream stalls.

Eating at a Dansala is part of the complete Vesak experience, says Fernando, an accounts clerk at a garment factory.

“It’s really fun to be out the whole evening among merry-makers,” she says. “Food is never scarce and it’s free.”

Fernando lives with her mother and younger brother in Panadura, a suburb of Colombo. Her father works abroad.

Fernando says she joins her family and friends to tour Colombo during Vesak and Poson, but this year, since so many Dansal didn’t open, she only visited a few stalls close to her home with her mother and brother.

Until last year, her mother did not join them, Fernando says. Her mother worried about the hygiene and cleanliness in food preparation, but since the government began to inspect the Dansal she started eating the food.

Inspection work was formalized in 2001, when Sri Lanka’s public health department organized inspections and set up a complaint hotline.

Fernando’s mother also believed the food was prepared for the poor and needy, Fernando says. But this perception has now completely changed, and visiting a Dansala is seen as a fun, even trendy, activity, she says.

“The change in these beliefs can be seen by the affluent families also visiting Dansal,” Fernando says.

The Health Inspector

Dansal are an important part of Vesak festivities, but health inspectors say the food stall operators should keep health concerns in mind.

“Organizers of Dansal should do so according to the rules and regulations set by the Public Health Department,” says Dimuthu Chaminda Sandaruwan, a public health inspector. “We respect this meritorious deed, but food health standards are important.”

Sandaruwan, 32, works for the Public Health Department of the Colombo Municipal Council. One of his jobs is to ensure that Dansal comply with health codes.

Dansal organizers in Colombo are required to apply and register with the Colombo Municipal Council, Sandaruwan says. They are advised on health standards and the requirement in food safety. Disposable cups are encouraged while food handlers are expected to be clean and properly attired.

Sandaruwan says he visited and inspected around eight Dansal in his area. He planned the visits to coincide with the cooking times so that he could inspect the water source, quality and freshness of raw ingredients, cleanliness of utensils as well as the solid waste disposal.

No Dansal were shut down in his area this year, Sandaruwan says. Many chose to serve simple food such as boiled gram, ice cream and porridge that needs little supervision, he says.

“Visitors should have confidence in us to ensure food they consume are pure and safe,” Sandaruwan says.

 

Kumala Wijeratne, GPJ, translated three interviews from Sinhala.