Katharagama Festival
The Sri Lanka Kataragama Perahera or Festival is an annual festival that takes place in July/August in Kataragama, in the Southern part of Sri Lanka and runs for about 2 weeks and is dedicated to the Hindu God of war and wisdom God Skanda known to Sri Lankans as Kataragama Deviyo.
The Sri Lanka Kataragama Perahera or Festival is a procession of elephants etc like in any Perahera in Sri Lanka commences from the Temple of Kataragama, Sri Lanka past the temples of other Gods to the Temple of the aboriginal jungle goddess Valli Amman. Devotees (Sri Lankans and tourists) of all religions join in the festivities including the aboriginal Veddahs of Sri Lanka. They cleanse themselves in the Menik River, Kataragama, Sri Lanka and make their offering to the shrine. Some Sri Lankans perform excruciating acts such as swinging on hooks pierced to their skin, some roll barely clad on hot sands near the temple and some Sri Lankans tread on red- hot embers.