Sri Lankan artists are come from Colombo to perform in Korea to celebrate the anniversary of the country’s independence at an event on Feb. 5.
Singer Deepika Priyadarshani Peiris and traditional Sri Lankan dancers are to help their country’s embassy mark the 64th anniversary of independence in Ansan city, where many Sri Lankan migrant workers live.
The first large-scale event of its kind from the embassy will be held from 2-6 p.m. at the city’s Olympic Memorial Hall.
The nation located off the southern tip of India won independence from British rule on Feb. 4 1948. A two-minute silence will also be observed to honor all Sri Lankans who died fighting to protect their country.
Sri Lankan ambassador to Korea Tissa Wijeratne will make a speech at the event to be attended by Korean government officials and the mayor of Ansan.
The celebrations will include religious observances from the Buddhist, Hindu, Islamic and Christian faiths, as well as a video presentation about the country.
An Independence Day message from Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapakasa will be read in Shinhala, Tamil and English in line with the country’s new trilingual policy.
Sinhala is the language of the majority Buddhist Sinhalese community while Tamil is spoken by the mainly Hindu minority of the north and east.
The Sri Lankan government is currently in talks with Tamil politicians about constitutional reforms including the possibility of devolution for the Tamil-dominated northern and eastern provinces ― where decades of civil war saw more than 70,000 killed in past clashes between government forces and Tamil rebel groups.
