Kohomba Kankariya, Kandyan Folk Dance

Kohomba Kankariya dancer (31 August, 2005)

Kohomba Kankariya is a religious performance that has since crossed the boundaries to become secular entertainment staged for the benefit of tourists to Kandy, Sri Lanka. The Kohomba Kankariya used to be a night-long ceremony in honour of the deity Kohomba. It is a stylized dance requiring about 50 male dancers dressed with silver belts and beaded breastplates, and with anklets and headdresses. They swirl and skip to the rhythm of drums to express their devotion to their god in worshipful obeisance.

Today, Kandyan dance may also include women dancers, as was witnessed by us during this performance in Kandy. There were also comic sketches. At the end of the dance, we were invited outside to watch a brief fire-walking presentation.