Perahera in the 'Hood - Part 1

Saturday, Dec 19, 2009 - a parade of elephants, dancers and fire twirlers wanders down my street in suburban Colombo, Sri Lanka!

These timings are approximate, but may be helpful in finding what you're interested in:

0:00 The parade begins with girls with flags
0:09 Boys with whips wander up and a cop
0:42 Boys start crackin!
1:14 Tractor is followed by boys with Suns and Stars of David (unintentional, I'm sure) made of sticks, and fire dancers
1:37 The fire dancers start twirling (and the smell of kerosene filled the air)
2:54 Finally we see the source of the music dressed in the style of Kandyan kingdom
3:20 ELEPHANT #1!
3:50 Elelphant is only about 6 or 7 feet away from me--- he could grab me if he wanted!
4:29 A shot of the interesting kerosene lamps they carried and women and kids in white carrying Buddhist flags
4:52 ELEPHANT #2! And Traditional dancers. (its okay that theyre not wearing shirts. It was over 85 degrees Fahrenheit)
5:25 The drummers get rockin
5:45 Finally! Elephant #2 close up
6:23 A weird stick dance I've never seen before like a maypole with neon outfits!

I think the different dances represent different communities across the island.

Видео Perahera in the 'Hood - Part 1 канала Malayna Dawn