The culture of Sri Lanka mixes modern elements with traditional aspects and is known for its regional diversity. Sri Lankan culture has long been influenced by the heritage of Theravada Buddhism and the religion's legacy is particularly strong in Sri Lanka below the northern region. South Indian cultural influences are especially pronounced in the northernmost reaches of the country. The history of colonial occupation has also left a mark on Sri Lanka's identity, with Portuguese, Dutch, and British elements having intermingled with various traditional facets of Sri Lankan culture. Culturally, Sri Lanka possesses strong links to both India and Southeast Asia. For over 5000 years, India and Sri Lanka have nurtured a legacy of historical, cultural, religious, spiritual, and linguistic connections.

The country has a rich artistic tradition, with distinct creative forms that encompass music, dance, and the visual arts. Sri Lankan culture is internationally associated with cricket, a distinct cuisine, an indigenous holistic medicine practice, religious iconography such as the Buddhist flag, and exports such as tea, cinnamon, and gemstones, as well as a robust tourism industry. Sri Lanka has longstanding ties with the Indian subcontinent that can be traced back to prehistory. Sri Lanka's population is predominantly Sinhalese with sizable Sri Lankan Tamil, Sri Lankan Muslim, Indian Tamil, Sri Lankan Malay and Burgher minorities.

History

Sri Lanka was first inhabited by Homo sapiens who traversed the Indian Ocean about 125,000 years ago. Sri Lanka has a documented history of over 3,000 years, mainly due to ancient historic scriptures like Mahawamsa, and with the first stone objects dating back to 500,000 BCE. Several centuries of intermittent foreign influence has transformed Sri Lankan culture to its present form. Nevertheless, the ancient traditions and festivals are still celebrated on the island, together with other minorities that make up the Sri Lankan identity.

One very important aspect that differentiates Sri Lankan history is its view on women. Women and men in Sri Lanka have been viewed equal for thousands of years from ruling the country to how they dress. Both men and women had the chance to rule the land, which is true even in the modern day. The world's first female prime minister, Sirimavo Bandaranaike, was from Sri Lanka.

Even though clothing today is very much westernized and modest dressing has become the norm for everyone, ancient drawings and carvings such as 'Sigiriya art's, Isurumuniya Lovers show how the pre-colonial Sri Lankans used to dress, which shows identical amount of clothing and status for men and women.

Visual arts

Architecture

The architecture of Sri Lanka displays a rich variety of architectural forms and styles. Buddhism had a significant influence on Sri Lankan architecture, since it was introduced to the island in 3rd Century BCE. Techniques and styles developed in India, China and later Europe, transported via colonialism, have also played a major role in the architecture of Sri Lanka.

Arts and crafts

Many forms of Sri Lankan arts and crafts take inspiration from the Island's long and lasting Buddhist culture which in turn has absorbed and adopted countless regional and local traditions. In most instances Sri Lankan art originates from religious beliefs, and is represented in many forms such as painting, sculpture, and architecture. One of the most notable aspects of Sri Lankan art are caves and temple paintings, such as the frescoes found at Sigiriya, and religious paintings found in temples in Dambulla and Temple of the Tooth Relic in Kandy. Other popular forms of art have been influenced by both natives as well as foreign settlers. For example, traditional wooden handicrafts and clay pottery are found around the hilly regions while Portuguese-inspired lacework and Indonesian-inspired Batik are also notable.

Performing arts

Dance

Sri Lanka is home to a variety of dance styles including classical, folk and dance drama, such as Kandyan dancing. Sri Lanka has 3 main endemic dance styles. They are named as Udarata (Endemic to Kandy), Pahatharata (Endemic to the Southern Areas) and Sabaragamu which is endemic to the districts of Kegalle and Rathnapura which are situated in the province of Sabaragamuwa.

Music

The two single biggest influences on Sri Lankan music are from Buddhism and Portuguese colonizers. Buddhism arrived in Sri Lanka after Emperor Ashoka and his children propagated the religion to Sri Lanka, while the Portuguese arrived in the 15th century, bringing with them cantiga ballads, the ukulele, and guitars, along with African slaves, who further diversified the musical roots of the island. These slaves were called kaffrinha, and their dance music was called baila. Traditional Sri Lankan music includes the hypnotic Kandyan drums- drumming was and is very much a part of music in both Buddhist and Hindu temples in Sri Lanka. Most western parts of Sri Lanka follow western dancing and music.

Cinema

The movie Kadawunu Poronduwa (The broken promise), produced by S. M. Nayagam of Chitra Kala Movietone, heralded the coming of Sri Lankan cinema in 1947. Ranmuthu Duwa (Island of treasures, 1962) marked the transition cinema from black-and-white to color. In recent years, Sri Lankan cinema has featured subjects such as family melodrama, social transformation, and the years of conflict between the military and the LTTE. Their cinematic style is similar to Bollywood movies. In 1979, movie attendance rose to an all-time high, but a gradual decline has been recorded since then. Undoubtedly, the most influential and revolutionary filmmaker in the history of Sri Lankan cinema is Lester James Peiris, who has directed a number of movies which received global acclaim, including Rekava (Line of destiny, 1956), Gamperaliya (The changing village, 1964), Nidhanaya (The treasure, 1970), and Golu Hadawatha (Cold Heart, 1968.)There are many cinemas in the city areas.

Media and technology

Radio and TV

Lifestyle

Cuisine

The cuisine of Sri Lanka is primarily influenced by that of Southern India, Indonesia and the Netherlands. Rice is a staple and usually consumed daily, and it can be found at any special occasion, while spicy curries are favourite dishes for lunch and dinner. A very popular alcoholic drink is toddy or arrack, both made from palm tree sap. Rice and curry refers to a range of Sri Lankan dishes. Sri Lankans also eat hoppers (Aappa, Aappam,) which can be found anywhere in Sri Lanka. More recently, there has been a rise of westernised Tamil chefs returning to Colombo, including the now famous Janakan Gnananandan who spent his early years training in South London's Michelin Star restaurants. This influx has given rise to a new breed of Sri Lankan and Tamil cuisine that blends traditional spices with European fast food, such as Rmammidan, meaning hot chips that has proven very popular with younger generations.

Much of Sri Lanka's cuisine consists of boiled or steamed rice served with spicy curry. Another well-known rice dish is kiribath, meaning milk rice. Curries in Sri Lanka are not just limited to meat or fish-based dishes, there are also vegetable and even fruit curries. A typical Sri Lankan meal consists of a "main curry" (fish, chicken, or mutton), as well as several other curries made with vegetable and lentils. Side-dishes include pickles, chutneys and "" which can sometimes be fiery hot. The most famous of these is the coconut , made of scraped coconut mixed with chili peppers, dried Maldivian fish and lime juice. This is ground to a paste and eaten with rice, as it gives zest to the meal and is believed to increase appetite.

In addition to (, Sri Lankans eat "(", chopped leaves mixed with grated coconut and red onions. Coconut milk is found in most Sri Lankan dishes and it gives the cuisine its unique flavor.

Restaurants serving Indian and Chinese cuisine are popular and found throughout the country.

Spices Sri Lanka has long been known for its spices. The best known is cinnamon which is native to Sri Lanka. In the 15th and 16th centuries, spice and ivory traders from all over the world brought their native cuisines to the island, resulting in a rich diversity of cooking styles and techniques. Lamprais rice boiled in stock with a special curry, accompanied by frikkadels (meatballs), all of which is then wrapped in a banana leaf and baked as a Dutch-influenced Sri Lankan dish. Dutch and Portuguese sweets also continue to be popular. British influences include roast beef and roast chicken. Also, the influence of the Indian cooking methods and food have played a major role in what Sri Lankans eat.

Sri Lankans use spices liberally in their dishes and typically do not follow an exact recipe: thus, every cook's curry will taste slightly different. Furthermore, people from different regions of the island (for instance, hill-country dwellers versus coastal dwellers) traditionally cook in different ways. Sri Lankan cuisine is known to be among the world's spiciest, due to the high use of different varieties of chili peppers referred to as amu miris (Green chilli), kochchi miris, and maalu miris (capsicum) and in Tamil Milakaai, among others. It is generally accepted for tourists to request that the food is cooked with a lower chili content to cater for the more sensitive Western palette. Food cooked for public occasions typically uses less chili than food cooked at homes, where the food is cooked with the chili content preferable to the occupants.

Tea culture

Tea is served whenever a guest arrives, it is served at festivals and gatherings.

Clothing

Festivals and holidays

New Year

The Sinhalese and Tamil New Year ("Aluth Avurudhu" in Sinhala, "Puthandu" in Tamil) is a very large cultural event on the island. The festival takes place in April (also known as the month of Bak) when the sun moves from the Meena Rashi (House of Pisces) to the Mesha Rashi (House of Aries). Unusually, both the end of one year and the beginning of the next occur not at midnight but at separate times determined by astrologers with a period of some hours between (the "nona gathe" or neutral period) being a time when one is expected to refrain from all types of work and instead engage solely in relaxing religious activities and traditional games. During the New Year festivities, both children and adults will often dress in traditional outfits. But the clothes must be washed and very clean because it should be pure.

List of holidays * Public holiday, † Bank holiday, # Mercantile holiday All full-moon days are Buddhist holidays referred to as Poya. The actual date on which a particular Poya day will fall changes every year.