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Jaffna
Despite Sri Lanka’s ongoing economic crisis, the Tamil New Year, which falls on the first day of the month of Chithirai in the Tamil calendar, was celebrated across the North-East earlier today.
With some referring to the April festival as an exclusively Hindu and sanskritised holiday, there is debate among Tamil communities as to whether the day truly represents a Tamil New Year.
Although socially and politically, a lot more prominence is given to the secular Tamil festival of Thaipongal, Chithirai Puthandu is still widely celebrated by Tamils in the North-East and globally.
This year the occasion was marked despite the ongoing economic crisis on the island, which has seen the prices of basic goods soar.
Prayers were held at the famous Nallur Temple in Jaffna and the historic Thiruketheeswaram Temple in Mannar,
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Mannar