Sri Lanka It's Happening

June 11, 2004

Yesterday I attended 'Home-coming'. Not sure if this is something that's practiced in other parts of the world, but in Sri Lanka, the wedding ceremony (and of course the honeymoon) is followed by the home coming which is a small reception at the home of the groom's parents. hence the name home-coming.

Traditionally Sri Lankan's have always favoured extended families, even now, even in colombo this practice still continues. So many (if not most) couples spend at least a brief period living with their parent. Usually it's the house of the groom but not always so.

Even couples who move to a house of their own run into trouble when the first baby comes along (speciallly in colombo and other major towns). That's because baby sitters can rarely be trusted and day care centers for very small babies are almost non existent. It's very rare to find a Sri Lankan mother who would trust her new born to a person other than a grand mother or aunt (grandfathers are a second option, uncles are never considered). So the tradition of extended families continues.