Traditional avurudu games

The players try to knock each other off the stand by using one hand to strike the opponent with a pillow. Kanaamutti Bindeema A row of clay pots with water or sand are hung several feet off the ground. One of the pots contains a special item most often, coloured water that differs from the rest. Each player is then blindfolded and given a bamboo pole. They take turns trying to strike the pot.

The player who hits the pot with the special item wins. The simplicity, laughter and high spirits garnered by onlookers and players alike are what makes Avurudu games so special! Log in to leave a comment. Update Required To play the media you will need to either update your browser to a recent version or update your Flash plugin. Live Radio Live Radio.

Everything else.. Avurudu Games: The Well-known and the Forgotten. Share on Facebook. Like 25 Dislike 3. Salons in Colombo. Trends to Keep an Eye Out for in There are New Year celebrations organised by various village associations and TV channels. In these festivals several other games and items are organized. These events are more commercialised today. TV channels also organise New Year festivals.

It has a commercial aspect but it also serves a purpose, as the younger generation particularly in urban areas who are not familiar with New Year rituals and games can learn a lot about our culture. A very long timber pole made from a puwak tree, about 10 metres high, is fixed into the ground. At the top of the pole money is placed or sometimes just a flag.

The pole has been rubbed with thick slimy grease along its whole length. The first person to climb to the top claims the money. However, repeated attempts are made with some of the grease being removed on each attempt until finally, when all the grease has been removed, the last person can climb to the top and claim the money. Here a row of pots are hung while the participants are blindfolded and select the pot which contains a specific item.

The winner is the person who hits the correct pot. New Year Festival Video. Your email address will not be published. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. Notify me of follow-up comments by email. Notify me of new posts by email. Ready, steady, eat! A row of suspended buns, waiting to be wolfed down by New Year revellers.

Image credits flickcr. We Sri Lankans are partial to food. We also love festivity, some healthy and slightly crazy competition and good clean fun, so games like banis kaema are right up our alley. This game has no religious or ritualistic connotations whatsoever, and absolutely no astrological significance, but it has evolved into one of those activities which any avurudu ulele could never do without.

In this outdoor activity, a row of buns are suspended from a horizontal pole or string. The contestants line up, kneeling in front of the dangling buns, with their hands tied behind their backs. The objective of the game is to finish the bun as quickly as possible, with the first person to eat the entire bun being declared the winner.

It is a good chance to throw table manners to the winds and just gobble as fast as you can for a change, so we can sort of see the attraction of the game. Unlike kotta pora, which is practically iconic during avurudu season, this is one of the lesser known outdoor games, fast waning into obscurity. More commonly played by young children, the game requires nothing but two sticks—a short one of about 6 inches in length and a longer one of about two and a half feet in length—and a small hole in the ground.

The shorter stick, known as the kuttiya, is placed across the hole, while the longer one is inserted underneath. The objective of the game is for the the striker to propel the kuttiya upwards as high as they can, while the rest of the players, spread out across the playing field, attempt to catch it.

If the kuttiya is caught, the striker loses the game. Most avurudu activities are designed to cater to the farming communities and, so they are uncomplicated, unfussy and make use of props which are both simple and easily accessible. However, it is the pure simplicity of these games which make them so enjoyable—there is no vindictive competition, no urge to win; it is simply a chance to divert from the usual daily grind and come together as a community, to just whack each other with pillows or get drenched after smashing up a clay pot.

In this day and age, most holidays and festivals are so commercialised that they are often in danger of becoming celebrations of great shopping deals rather than age-old traditions. For nearly two decades eLanka has reliably reported the facts, good news stories, photos, events at no charge, but our work is far from free to produce.

Thank You!