Sri Lanka's culture also revolves around
religion. The Buddhist community of Sri Lanka observe Poya Days,
which are also important days of prayers to the Hindus, once per
month according to the Lunar calendar. The Hindus and Muslims also
observe their own holidays. Sri Lankans are very religious because
the history of the island has been involved with religion numerous
times. There are many Buddhist temples in Sri Lanka and many
mosques, Hindu temples and churches all across the island.
The religious preference of an area could be determined by the
number of religious institutions in the area. The North and the East
of the island has many mosques and Hindu temples because a large
Tamil and Muslim population resides in those areas. Many churches
could be found along the southern coast line because many living in
those areas are Roman Catholic or Christian.
The interior of the island is mostly the Buddhist population and
there are many Buddhists residing in all parts of the island because
they are the largest religious group in Sri Lanka. The Christian
include both Sinhalese and Tamil convert. Sri Lanka is a land of
religious freedom and tolerance. Wherever you travel you will come
across a Buddhist Temple or Dagaba, a Hindu Kovil, a Christian
Church or a Mosque,each with its own distinctive architecture.
Languages
Since Sri Lanka endows a diversity of ethnic groups, language
spoken in the country is various. The two major ones widely used
are, however, Sinhala language spoken by the Sinhalese majority and
Tamil language used by the Tamils. Although, Sinhala and Tamil are
languages from different source, both share some common
characteristics and obviously have influence on each other's
linguistic evolution as well. Sinhala and Tamil are official
languages in Sri Lanka. Sinhala, a language of Indo-Aryan origin is
the language of the majority. English is widely spoken and
understood. Place names and sign-boards on buses andtrains are
usually in all three languages.
People
Sri Lanka is the land of multi-ethnic groups distinctively divided
by two main characteristics: language and religion which
consequently intersect to create four principal ethnic groups. The
first one is the largest minority group of the country-that is
Sinhalese people, accounting for 74% of its total population,
densely populated in the southwest of the island. The second largest
group is Tamils which is subdivided into two groups: the Ceylon
Tamils or Sri Lankan Tamils and the Indian Tamils. Altogether, these
two groups of Tamils account for 18% of the country's populace. The
Ceylon Tamils concentrate in the northern and eastern parts of the
country while the Indian Tamils separate to settle in the south
central Sri Lanka. The next group is Moors, the Arab origins,
recognized as the Muslims of 7% of total population scattering
around the Central Highlands. Actually, among Moors, themselves,
comprises of three subdivisions: the Sri Lankan Moors, the Indian
Moors, and the Malays. The fourth group is the Burghers who are the
descendants of the Portuguese and the Dutch.
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