Buddhist Ceremonies and Rituals of Sri Lanka

Another part of the ritual is the hanging of flags on the branches of the tree in the
expectation of getting one’s wishes fulfilled.
Bathing the tree with scented water is also a necessary part of the ritual. So is the
burning of incense, camphor, etc. Once all these offerings have been completed, the
performers would circumambulate the tree once or thrice reciting an appropriate stanza.
The commonest of such stanzas is as follows:
Yassa múle nisinno va
sabbári vijayaí aká
patto sabbaññutaí Satthá
Vande taí bodhipádapaí.
Ime ete mahábodhi
lokanáthena pujitá
ahampi te namassámi
bodhi rájá namatthu te.
“I worship this Bodhi-tree seated under which the Teacher attained omniscience by
overcoming all enemical forces (both subjective and objective). I too worship this
great Bodhi-tree which was honoured by the Leader of the World. My homage to
thee, O King Bodhi.”
The ritual is concluded by the usual transference of merit to the deities that protect the
Buddha’s Dispensation.
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Poya Days
In their religious observances the Sri Lankan Buddhists have adopted from Indian
tradition the use of the lunar calendar. The four phases of the moon are the pre-newmoon
day, when the moon is totally invisible, the half-moon of the waxing fortnight, the
full moon, and the half-moon of the waning fortnight. Owing to the moon’s fullness of
size as well as its effulgence, the full-moon day is treated as the most auspicious of the
four phases. Hence the most important religious observances are held on full-moon days
and the lesser ones in conjunction with the other phases. In the Buddhist calendar, the
full moon, as the acme of the waxing process, is regarded as the culmination of the
month and accordingly the period between two full moons is one lunar month. 10
The religious observance days are called poya days. The Sinhala term poya is derived
from the Pali and Sanskrit form uposatha (from upa + vas: to fast) primarily signifying
“fast day.” Fasting on this day was a pre-Buddhist practice among the religious sects of
ancient India. While the monks use the monthly moonless day (called amávaka in
Sinhala) and the full-moon day for their confessional ritual and communal recitation of
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