Sri Lanka Events by Month.

April

April is the month in which all the Sri Lanka people enjoy with fun and joy as the local New year to begin in this month. This is something similar to New Year eve in other parts of the world.

• Sinhala and Tamil New Year: Used to be celebrated all over the island in colorful ways on 13th and 14th of April. The entire Island falls in the festival mood and most of the shops in the towns and villages used to be closed. During these days you will get warm welcome at all places and you can have milky rice cooked with milk and locally made sweets in all the homes. In large towns there used to be local games and Music shows used to take place. Some time for one week you won't see business and shop to be operating.
• Whales and Dolphin Watching : In the Southern part of Sri Lanka, Mirissa is the popular place for to watch playing Whales and Dolphins as they used to visit this areas Ocean in this month. Hire one specially built boat for ocean going to view the whales and dolphins in the day time. Also good palces for whales and dolphins are Alankuda beach in Kalpitiya, Dondra, Trincomalee, Alutgama, Ambalangoda and Hikkaduwa.
• Nuwara Eliya Summer Holiday Festival : Nuwara Eliya is called as little England as it resembles typical English villages in England. This place is very cool while the rest of the country is experiencing hot weather. On 1st of April to 30th April the summer holiday festival used to take place. You can witness plenty of sports activities that used to include parades, horse racing, flower shows and many other shows used to take place along with night musical events.

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May

• This is the month Sri Lanka Buddhists used to celebrate the Vesak Poya day which falls on May. You can witness streets filled with electric lighting and people used to make stalls and used to offer free food like rice and curry, boiled peas, Tapioca, drinks like milk coffee and ice cream to people passing them. Mean while some places like Fort, Borella, Dehiwala and many other places will have largely built unique art work decorated with color bulbs which are based on Buddha's life stories and are called as "Thorana" can be seen in these days. Lot of people used to gather here to watch and listen to those stories on these special days. Take note meat products and sprits are totally banned in these days all over the island. The violators will be punished by courts.
• If you want to visit any Buddhist Shrine on Vesak Full Moon Poya Days, wear long clothes covering your whole body.
• This is the perfect month to visit Tour Sri Lanka as it is sunny all over the island and the day time temperature is far down than the month of April.

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June

• Full Moon Poya day of June when Poson is practiced in Mihintale and Anuradhapura.
  During this time lot of people used to visit these places. Every month there is a Poya Day and it is considered as public holiday.
  This comes under the Buddhist religion. So on this particular Poya day all the liquor shops will be closed. No meat products are sold or served. No movies will be shown in the cinema halls. There used to be less frequent public bus service in the evening and night as there are less people on the roads.

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July

• Kataragama Temple Perahara used to be celebrated from July to August
• Kandy Esala Perahara from July to August
• Nallur Kandaswamy Temple Festival in Jaffna.
• Bellanvila Temple Perahara from July to August
• Hikkaduwa Beach Festival. People used to gather here from around the world to participate in the nights of festival.

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September

• Ramazan Festival Day
• 5th - 15th Tuk tuk Rally
• Colombo Art Biennale of modern art.

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October

• Deepavali Festival: Deepavali festival is also called as Lighting festival. This is a great event in the Hindu religion and this festival is mostly celebrated in India, Sri Lanka, Singapore, Malaysia, Mauritius and other countries Hindu people are living. Most part of the festival take place in the Temple, while 2 - 3 weeks before the festival people used to buy new clothes for the festival.
  
  So there is a big chance for to buy clothes at discounted price from the stores during this time. Late night shopping available at the centre of the city. On the Deepawali day you can witness lot of activities in the Hindu temples while new Tamil movies are released on this day as Blockbusters. You can expect movies from Top Tamil heroes like Rajinikanth, Vijay, Kamal, Ajith and from many others.

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November

• According to Tamil Calendar the Deepavali Festival used to take place. Some time the festival take place in this Month, November.
• Hadji Festival Day
• Annual Spice Festival of Colombo. In this Spice Festival you can witness all the Sri Lanka grown Spices and their by products. Visit here to Smell the aroma of the spices, taste them and you can purchase them too.. In this Festival, you can find extract of oil and other products that are extracted from the Sri Lanka grown Spices. Tourist can buy selected spice varities in small amount that are specially packed in boxes to save their aroma, fragrance and flavour. This kind of packing is essential to keep the freshness and the original aromatic smell of these spices. Most of the visitors buy Spice packets in Sri Lanka, to give as gifts to their friends and relatives, when they return back to their homes.

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December

• Adam's Peak: Sri Pada Mountain Pilgrimage Season starts in this month. Don't miss the opportunity to climb this mountain to view scenic sunrise in the mornings. Read More
• National Bird Watching Month: You can watch hundreds of varieties of immigrating birds and local birds during this season. Most of the birds used to make accommodations in the bird's sanctuaries around Sri Lanka. It is better to get a Birding Guide who must be an experienced one for the money you pay him. Many Hotels in the South provide Guides and photographic equipments on rent. Check with your Hotel for them.
• Christmas Week: Sri Lanka is not a Christian country although X-Mas along with New Year is celebrated widely all over the Island in grand. This week is celebrated with full of carols, music shows, fireworks and special events. You can find Holiday Sales in the Malls and Super Markets with heavy discounts during this season. Specially electronic and electric apparatus are put out on sales. Colombo Fort streets used to be fully packed during this X-Mas week with local shoppers.
• Negombo Beach Festival: The Negombo beach located in the Negombo city used to celebrate the International kit festival in the month of August every year. After that the beach festival that used to take place is for fun and joy where live bands play music for the visitors of the festival.

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January

• Kelani Raja Maha Viharaya: Duruthu Perahera festival. This Procession in the night, will give you to witness the traditional Sri Lanka dancers and other performers along with decorated Elephants in the parade. It is necessary to find a good place to watch all of the procession as you won't have chance to view like this in any part of the world.
• Thai Pongal Festival: This is the harvest festival used to be celebrated on 14th of January. North and East region farmers used to celebrate this festival to thank their God Sun and the next day is dedicated to their bulls and cattle which helped them with their field works.
• Colombo Art Festival: This is known as Kala Pola and used to be held in Open-air Art Festival where prominent and emerging artists used to display their oil, water color paintings, sculptures and along with the display of the local artists modern art work.
• Galle Literary Festival: This literary festival is one of the leading events and it too falls in the first month of the New Year. Galle town which still have the heritage of British and other foreign country origin will become as a very busy place where lot of foreigners and tourists used to flock here. Other than the event you can witness Plays, Concerts, Art Installations, Gourmet Dinners, Children Feast, Fashion Shows, Garden Tours, Architecture, Community Initiatives, Photographic Exhibitions and many other related events. Read More
  
  Well known writers and publishers used to come over here.

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February

• Gangarama Nawam Perahera: Hundreds of colorfully decorated elephants used to parade on this street festival that falls on full moon day in February.
• National Day: 4th of February is the National Day of Sri Lanka. Celebrations used to take place at the Independence Square in Colombo.
• Elephant Polo: Elephant polo used to be held in Galle City annually. It is organized by under the Ceylon Elephant Polo Association.
• Donald Steel Golf Tournament: Victoria Golf Club, Kandy. Annually event. Read more.

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March

• MahaSivaratri: A Hindu festival celebrated in Hindu temples all over the Island. Sometime Maha Sivarathiri used to fall in the month of February as it is celebrated according to Tamil Calendar.
• IFF: Galle International Film Festival

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Sri Lanka Holidays 2020

Date	Day	Holiday
10 January	Friday	Duruthu Full Moon Poya Day
15 January	Wednesday	Tamil Thai Pongal Day
04 February	Tue	Adhi Duruthu Full Moon Poya Day
08 February	Sunday	National Day
21 February	Wednesday	Mahasivarathri Day
09 March	Thursday	Madin Full Moon Poya Day
10 April	Friday	Good Friday
09 March	Saturday	Adhi Madin Full Moon Poya Day
12 April	Friday	Day prior to Sinhala & Tamil New Year Day
13 April	Saturday	Sinhala & Tamil New Year Day
07 April	Sunday	Bak Full Moon Poya Day
01 May	Tuesday	May Day
07 May	Tuesday	Vesak Full Moon Poya Day
08 May	Wednesday	Day following Vesak Full Moon Poya Day
25 May	Friday	Id Ul-Fitr
05 June	Wednesday	Poson Full Moon Poya Day
04 July	Friday	Esala Full Moon Poya Day
01 August	Wednesday	Id Ul-Alha
03 August	Sunday	Nikini Full Moon Poya Day
01 September	Monday	Binara Full Moon Poya Day
01 October	Friday	Vap Full Moon Poya Day/Milad un-Nabi
30 October	Friday	Vap Full Moon Poya Day/Milad un-Nabi
14 November	Sat	Deepavali
29 November	Sunday	Ill Full moon Poya day
25 December	Friday	Christmas
29 December	Tuesday	Unduvap Full Moon Poya Day