Sri Lanka Culture

Sri Lanka's culture also revolves around religion. The Buddhist community of Sri Lanka observe Poya Days, which are also important days of prayers to the Hindus, once per month according to the Lunar calendar. The Hindus and Muslims also observe their own holidays. Sri Lankans are very religious because the history of the island has been involved with religion numerous times. There are many Buddhist temples in Sri Lanka and many mosques, Hindu temples and churches all across the island.

The religious preference of an area could be determined by the number of religious institutions in the area. The North and the East of the island has many mosques and Hindu temples because a large Tamil and Muslim population resides in those areas. Many churches could be found along the southern coast line because many living in those areas are Roman Catholic or Christian. The interior of the island is mostly the Buddhist population and there are many Buddhists residing in all parts of the island because they are the largest religious group in Sri Lanka. The Christian include both Sinhalese and Tamil convert. Sri Lanka is a land of religious freedom and tolerance. Wherever you travel you will come across a Buddhist Temple or Dagaba, a Hindu Kovil, a Christian Church or a Mosque,each with its own distinctive architecture.

Languages
Since Sri Lanka endows a diversity of ethnic groups, language spoken in the country is various. The two major ones widely used are, however, Sinhala language spoken by the Sinhalese majority and Tamil language used by the Tamils. Although, Sinhala and Tamil are languages from different source, both share some common characteristics and obviously have influence on each other's linguistic evolution as well. Sinhala and Tamil are official languages in Sri Lanka. Sinhala, a language of Indo-Aryan origin is the language of the majority. English is widely spoken and understood. Place names and sign-boards on buses andtrains are usually in all three languages.

People
Sri Lanka is the land of multi-ethnic groups distinctively divided by two main characteristics: language and religion which consequently intersect to create four principal ethnic groups. The first one is the largest minority group of the country-that is Sinhalese people, accounting for 74% of its total population, densely populated in the southwest of the island. The second largest group is Tamils which is subdivided into two groups: the Ceylon Tamils or Sri Lankan Tamils and the Indian Tamils. Altogether, these two groups of Tamils account for 18% of the country's populace. The Ceylon Tamils concentrate in the northern and eastern parts of the country while the Indian Tamils separate to settle in the south central Sri Lanka. The next group is Moors, the Arab origins, recognized as the Muslims of 7% of total population scattering around the Central Highlands. Actually, among Moors, themselves, comprises of three subdivisions: the Sri Lankan Moors, the Indian Moors, and the Malays. The fourth group is the Burghers who are the descendants of the Portuguese and the Dutch.