The Esala Perahera Festival is one of the three major festivals in Asia.
It is the largest and oldest festival in Sri Lanka, and is held in the ancient city of Kandy, a World Heritage Site, for approximately one week around July and August. Perahera means "procession" in Sinhala, the language of Sri Lanka. The name comes from the way the dancers walk around the city, beating drums, singing, and performing with fire, led by a gorgeously decorated elephant carrying a container of Buddha's teeth on its back.
The Perahera Festival is held in Kandy, where the tooth of Buddha is kept, to pay homage to the Buddha and to wish for a good harvest of crops. Buddhists and tourists from all over the world visit the festival every year to catch a glimpse of this traditional festival.
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(Photo: Daniel Liabeuf / Wikimedia Commons [CC BY-SA 3.0])