Christmas celebrated in Puttalam - Simply and Gently
Christians of Puttalam celebrated Christmas to commemorate the birth of Jesus Christ in the night of 24th December. Religious observance and special prayers were obtained in churches to mark the Christmas.
The Road Development Authority with the collaboration of the Urban Council of Puttalam placed a model of a cow shed which is known as the birth place of Jesus Christ in the Bethlehem, at the ‘day fair round about’ to pay the respect to the Christians of Puttalam while the business community illuminated their shops, offices and business premises to share the joy and to serve them in their best.
According to the history, Catholicism was introduced to the island of Sri Lanka after the invasion of Portuguese in 1505 AD as though the Christianity was introduced by Dutch after their succession of Portuguese in 1657. The British Empire invaded Sri Lanka ending the rule of Dutch in 1798 AD. In the British colonial rule Roman Catholics enjoyed the freedom of following Catholicism. Missioners arrived to Sri Lanka and established churches and missionary schools in many parts of island. The Catholic/ Christian community since and then plays a major role in Sri Lanka.
The first church of Puttalam was built in 1830 AD. But it was known that a church was functioned in the 1687 AD. The number of churches increased up to 26 today. St. Joseph Vas, who served to safeguard the Roman Catholic sector in Sri Lanka in the period of Dutch rule, has made several visits to Puttalam in 1620. The first government school of Puttalam is St. Andrew’s College established in 1818 and the first chairman of the Urban Council of Puttalam is Mr. W.A. Muthu Kumar (Lawyer by profession) who was a Catholic.
Among the 80,000 of the population of Puttalam 18.86% of Christians are living with other religious groups who are Muslim (48.52%), Buddhist (24.8%) and Hindu (7.4%) respectively.
The Christian community of Puttalam is having the reputation and respect with pride since the past and hopeful future by enjoying their freedom of religion and sharing a harmonious life with other religious groups to develop their home land, Sri Lanka.
NOTE: to view more pics please follow this link:
http://puttalamonline.com/2011/12/25/christmas-celebrated-in-puttalam-simply-and-gently/
Comments
like always ... you give us some new spots of light about your country .. it was great to know about your cultures there. Thanks for sharing the great history of Christianity in your town.
best regards, waiting your next blog.
actually it is very nice info. :-) I love that people in Asia living peacely even that there are many religions , faiths and colors. I think that minorities in Islamic countries have their all rights while the muslim minorities in the west still fighting to get their rights. merry x-mas for all Christians around the world and wish them a peaceful life. Happy new year also for all of u ,,, love u all and thank u Hisham about these great and useful blogs :)
thanx for such great info... seems very nice way to celebrate with some local tradition.. an exquisite mix..