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Tomorrow at Talawila

by Dr. Granville Fernando

Tomorrow will be the annual feast at the St. Anne's shrine at Talawila.

Talawila a fishing village on the tip of the Kalpitiya Peninsula that has been silent and for the past few months, will once more burst into life this weekend.

Hundreds and thousands from the four corners of our island will flock to its shimmering sands to celebrate its annual festival.

Time was when pilgrims from even across the Palk straits crossed over to be at Talawila for the annual festival.

Sprawling on golden sands and sun kissed beaches with waving palms it is sandwitched between the limpid waters of a blue lagoon and the angry waves of a deep blue green sea.

What brings these milling crowds to Talawila?

According to many theologians a successful shrine cannot be brought about by human planning or organizational skill. Choosing a serene ambient, installing a graceful statue providing pilgrims with facilities and giving wide publicity will not necessarily result in a popular shrine. Some original event, an alleged miracle, an inner 'pull' and a host of other such ingredients combine to provide that magic that converst the most prosaic looking church into a popular shrine.That exactly is what has happened at Talawila.

A decrepit old church where an ancient statue dedicated to a saint who lived even before the dawn of Christianity which started bestowing miraculous graces and blessings, was the origin of the popular shrine of St. Anne's at Talawila.

Many believed the birth of the shrine followed the dream of a Portuguese wayfarer many centuries ago that it would be useless repeating it here.

The second version is of course the famous shipwreck of the Talawila coast of a sailing craft which came to grief at 'Kappal Adi' a quaint little Muslim Village which stands even today in mute testimony to this great event. 'Kappal Adi' in Tamil means place of shipwreck.

And so from humble beginnings Talawila has developed and progressed. Indeed it is the second most popular place of Christian pilgrimage in Sri Lanka today.

Somewhere in 1989 on a directive by President Premadasa the famous shrine was given a facelift under the St. Anne's shrine Development Scheme implemented by the Ministry of Local Government, Housing and Construction which was ceremoniously opened by President Premadasa himself. Till the middle of 1950 when the centenary celebration of the shrine took place, access to the shrine was difficult and arduous. One remembers with a certain sense of remorse the trudge on the burning sands from the little Muslim village Ettalai to the Shrine.

Although it was tiring and tedious it helped to break the dull monotony of tedious travel.The hasty stops where we gulped down rich red 'peni komadu' or water melon or munched luscious 'madan' or black berries one finds difficult to forget. Any account of Talawila will be incomplete without reference to that indefatigable prelate and patriot the late Dr. Edmund Peiries Bishop Emeritus of Chilaw.

For this famous historian, linguist and scholar St. Anne's Talawila had a special place for he had the rare privilege of spending his young and salad days under it's hallowed and sheltering influence. And tomorrow as thousands kneel on those golden sands to sing that perennial favourite 'Santanan Meniyene' let us also not forget to pray for a lasting peace and for those pioneering stalwarts of old.

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Copyright 2001 The Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Ltd.
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