Janet's Journal

Christmas Eve ended with a bang, in fact lots of them all through the night.  Although bangers have been let off daily since the beginning of December the whole town goes mad just before midnight

I opted to go to Kattuwa Church again, its not very far from home and their Mass started at 23.45.  At midnight the service was drowned out by the sounds of fireworks being let off all over town.

There is something very special about the Christmas Mass here.  There were maybe upward of three thousand people at this one church (there are sixty-five churches in Negombo).  Whole families attend together, all in their best clothes.  The little girls in their party dresses, white ankle socks and pretty shoes, the young boys in maybe their first pair of long trousers, shirt, and tie.  Most people sit outside under the soft, inky blue sky with the palm trees softly lit by floodlights.  The loudspeakers attached to every church and temple here blast out the service ensuring that everyone can hear.

Fireworks and parties continued through the night until the church bells started again. Silent Night and Peace on Earth seem a distant memory.

Christmas Day was spent lazing round the pool before getting dressed up to go to Jetwing Beach’s buffet spread in the evening.  The party atmosphere continued for the next few days, especially on the beach.

New Year’s Eve was a hive of activity at Centre Point Grill which sits between Jetwing Blue and Jetwing Beach hotels.  The fishermen’s tractor hauled catamarans up the beach to frame the seating area being set up on the sand.  A stage and dance floor were built and over a hundred tables were set up for the buffet dinner.

At 5pm the heavens opened, and a true tropical downpour drenched everything for over an hour.  The call went out for all staff to help strip the tables and chairs of their coverings, these were then rushed to the laundry to be dried and set up again.

Nearly five hundred people enjoyed the enormous buffet, the DJs kept the dance floor busy until at midnight the big firework displays started all along the beach.  Hundreds of local people loomed up in the darkness to watch the displays from four of the big beachside hotels.

After very little sleep due to bangers being let off all night New Year’s Day signalled the time to light the little fire under a clay pot full of milk.  The milk boils over symbolizing a blessing and prosperity for the year to come.

A final flurry of bangers let off in the street on Sunday then life has returned to normal, it seems strangely quiet!