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Next: 13 to 14 Apr 2027

Sinhala and Tamil New Year (Avurudu)

Kiribath, kavum and kokis, with the first meal cooked at an auspicious hour and the sweetness of cinnamon and cardamom.

A tile drawn for this day, not a photograph.

Spices for Sinhala and Tamil New Year (Avurudu)

Sri Lankans mark the end of the harvest and the new year with the first boiling of milk rice (kiribath) at a time given by the astrologers. Sweet oil cakes (kavum), the rosette cookies (kokis) and aggala sweets are served with a hot paste of onion and chilli (lunu miris). Sri Lanka is the main home of true cinnamon, so its use in sweets and tea has a certain pride, and the black curry blend (thuna paha) with roasted rice and coconut, is a counterpart for the savoury table.

The spices

CinnamonTrue Ceylon cinnamon scents Avurudu sweets.CardamomGoes into kavum and sweet rice.

Also part of it, and being written: Ceylon curry powder (The roasted dark blend of the island.).

About this page

Written by the EveryMasala desk with AI assistance. Background: "Sinhalese New Year" on Wikipedia. Customs differ from place to place and family to family. If this is your tradition and we have it wrong, tell us.

Photo credits on this page

The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.

The weekly digest

Every Monday: seven spices you may not know, what is cooking this week, and one blend explained step by step.