Sri Lanka customs
Sri Lanka, the full name
Sri Lanka Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka (The Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka), formerly known as Ceylon, is a tropical island country located in the Indian Ocean and a member of the Commonwealth. In ancient China, it was once called the Lion Kingdom, the Shizi Kingdom, and the Sinhala Kingdom. Moreover, Sri Lanka means "Promised Land" or "Bright and Rich Land" in Sinhala. It is known as the "Gemstone Kingdom" and "Pearl of the Indian Ocean." It is considered by Marco Polo to be the most beautiful island.
Sri Lanka has a long history of international participation, a founding member of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation, a member of the United Nations, the British Commonwealth, the G77, and the Non-Aligned Movement. It is currently the only South Asian country rated "high" on the Human Development Index. Colombo is the capital of Sri Lanka, with an area of 37.31 square kilometers. It is known as the "Oriental Crossroad." Since the Middle Ages, it has been one of the important commercial ports in the world. The world-renowned Lanca gems are continuously exported overseas from here.
Sri Lanka is a multi-ethnic country, including Sinhalese, Tamil, Moors (Muslims) and other ethnic groups. Among them, Sinhalese account for 74.9%, Tamil account for 15.4%, Moors account for 9.2%, and other ethnic groups account for 0.5%. 70.2% of the residents believe in Buddhism, 12.6% believe in Hinduism, and 9.7% believe in Islam. There are also Catholicism and Christianity. Sinhala and Tamil are both the official languages of Sri Lanka and the national languages, and English is commonly used in the upper class.
Sri Lanka is a country where the majority of the population believes in Buddhism. Many customs are related to Buddhism. Buddhist monks in Sri Lanka are highly respected. They dress conservatively. When entering formal occasions such as temples, churches, palaces, and high-end entertainment venues, their clothes must be dignified and tidy. Ladies should not bare their chests and backs, and should not wear halter tops, sleeveless tops, shorts, miniskirts, slippers, etc. inappropriate clothing.
There are many Hindu temples in Sri Lanka that are not allowed to enter. After obtaining permission to enter the temple, you must take off your shoes, hat, and remove any leather products on your body, such as belts, purses, etc. When visiting Buddhist temples, you should not step on, stride, or ride on Buddha statues. Please do not touch any offerings in the temple or believers going to the shrine. Please visit the temple clockwise.
The etiquette of meeting for Buddhists in Sri Lanka is to hold their palms together, and they usually say "Ayubowen"(meaning good wishes). When the other party performs a palm closing ceremony, the guest must return the same etiquette. The most important etiquette among the Sinhalese people is the "prostrate oneself" ceremony (that is, putting your knees, hands and forehead to the ground). This is generally used on important occasions. For Buddhist elders or parents, the recipient touches the top of the person's head with his right hand. As a blessing.
"Touch your feet" is also a traditional Sinhalese etiquette (that is, when a younger generation performs a kneeling ceremony to an elder or a believer to a monk, they must touch the instep of the recipient to show respect). Influenced by foreigners, handshake ceremonies are gradually becoming popular among Sri Lanka people.
When talking to Buddhist monks, Sri Lanka residents try to be slightly lower than the monk's head, whether standing or sitting, and they are not allowed to hold anything with their left hand and hand it to Buddhist monks and believers. When visiting Buddhist temples, you are not allowed to step on, stride, or ride on Buddha statues. Moreover, when entering the temple, you must be barefoot, no shoes, socks, and no hats.
When residents of Sri Lanka meet people for the first time, they often use shaking hands and putting their hands together to say hello. The most standardized practice is to put your hands together on the face. Sri Lanka people like red, white, yellow and other colors, and even regard crows as mascots. They like to use lights to celebrate opening, foundation laying, religious ceremonies, etc.
The wedding customs of Sri Lanka people are quite special, represented by the marriage customs of the Sinhalese people. The man and the woman are engaged first, and after the wedding date is determined, they exchange rings. On the wedding day, a brother-in-law washes the feet of the groom, ties the "concentric knot", breaks the coconuts and other customs. The real ceremony is after the bride wears the floral cloth given by the groom on the wedding stage, and wears the fish-shaped hairpin on her head. Polyandry still exists in the central mountains of Sri Lanka.
It is worth noting that in Sri Lanka, the meaning of nodding and shaking your head is opposite to that of China. A nod means no, and a shake means yes. Sri Lanka people use the thumb, index finger and middle finger of their right hand to pick up food and eat it. When sending gifts to local people, do not send flowers. When eating and receiving gifts, they must use their right hand.
In addition to the canon of "no food after noon," Buddhists in Sri Lanka also have the rules of not entering entertainment venues, not riding bicycles, not running fast, not riding carts pulled by female animals, not wearing watches, and being barefoot in temples. Most people in Sri Lanka believe in Buddhism. In daily life, people treat monks with great respect. When taking a bus, ordinary people get on the bus from the back door, while monks get on the bus from the front door. There is also a seat for monks in front of the bus, and others are not allowed to sit on it without permission.
They taboo using their left hand to pass things or food, and regard their left hand as dirty and despicable. Therefore, it is extremely impolite to deliver items to them with your left hand. Sri Lanka monks ban alcohol; they also don't like to eat mushrooms. Islamists in Sri Lanka ban pork and use pig products.
Most people in Sri Lanka eat rice, coconut meat, corn, cassava, etc. as their main foods, and also like to eat fried noodles, fried rice and other foods. They particularly prefer coconut milk and red peppers, two ingredients that are indispensable to almost all their dishes. They have a hobby of chewing sauce leaves. They are used to smearing some lime on the sauce leaves, adding a few slices of beang coconut, and then rolling them together to chew. It is said that this can refresh oneself; aid digestion.
They are used to drinking bedside tea in the morning and like to drink coffee and black tea after meals. They generally like to add sugar and milk. Farmers generally prefer to drink a light wine brewed from coconut flowers. They usually grab food with their hands. Usually, they have the habit of putting two bowls of water in front of each person. Clear water is used for cleaning hands and cold boiled water is used for drinking.
They also like to eat chicken, fish, shrimp, beef, mutton, etc., and also like to eat potatoes, cabbage, cucumbers, beans, tomatoes, radishes, wax gourd, peppers and other vegetables; they like to use cinnamon, cardamom, cloves, lemons, crocus, curry, etc. for seasoning; generally they do not eat river fresh food but eat dried fish; Sri Lanka Buddhists do not eat beef.
Sri Lanka hosts guests and has the polite habit of serving milk tea to guests. Because milk tea is their national traditional drink. They usually have the habit of delivering a cup of cold boiled water to their guests at banquets. If you don't want to drink water, be sure to decline politely, that is, gently touch the cup with your hand, and the owner will understand what you mean. When they express "affirmative answer or agree", they usually shake their heads slightly; when they express "negative answer or disagree", they shake their heads vigorously; when they express "very agree" or "very understand", they nod their heads. This is somewhat different from the habits of China.
They are generally happy to ask distinguished guests to strike matches and light wicks to celebrate foundation laying, shop opening or religious ceremonies. He believes that lighting oil lamps symbolizes career prosperity and happiness in life. They love "orchids" very much, respect orchids as national flowers, and regard them as a symbol of friendship.
People often tie orchids into wreaths and use them to present them to guests, and then send a portion of sauce leaves to express their warm welcome. They greatly worship lions, which symbolize courage, majesty and strength. Therefore, the image of a lion is decorated in the national flag. They like black-tailed jungles. He believes that it brings beauty and happiness to people and respects it as a national bird.
They generally have excellent feelings for elephants and believe that elephants bring good fortune to people. Therefore, people take great care of it, often dress and decorate it, and even compete to compete with it. They have a good habit of keeping appointments on time. Think this is a sign of courtesy.