In the recent past Sri Lanka had suffered a severe drop in the economy due to a terrorist attack at the Katunayake airport. As a result of this, countries such as America had warned their people to avoid travelling to Sri Lanka due to security reasons. But now that peace has dawned upon our country, the country’s tourist industry is slowly but steadily picking up day by day. Because of this the International Cricket Council (ICC) graciously gave us the opportunity to host the ICC Champions Trophy. But it is disappointing for us that the officials concerned did not make full use of this valuable opportunity to display our true, traditional, culture.

We were indeed disappointed to see dancers displaying modern dance items in place of the Kandyan dancers, the Vadiga Patuna, Sabaragamu dancers and our traditional ceremonial dancers who display our truly rich cultural heritage. The item displayed was said to be showing the sun rising from the east and how the people of Sri Lanka gather their harvest, the tea pluckers, and Kandyan lasses half dressed in Kandyan sarees, while the other dancers made a complete mockery of the event.

I fail to see how our farmers gather their harvest in mid air. And when ladies dressed in green dresses tying a red cloth on their head made way to the grounds I seriously thought that they were labourers about to drag the covers onto the pitch. This is not displaying our traditional culture but exploiting it. The only traditional item that was to be seen were the Kandyan drummers.

I’m afraid the same must be said about the Asian Athletics Championships too. It was the same dance items that were seen in the ICC Champions Trophy. It would have been absolutely perfect if they had included our traditional dancers instead of the same pathetic display they had used for the ICC Champions Trophy.

I hope the officials concerned take this into mind when or rather if we ever get another opportunity, hopefully an event as important and rare as this, in future. We have a truly rich heritage. People around the world find it very fascinating. We must be proud of it. It must be given priority.
Bhagya Wickremasinghe
Kandy