Awurudu time and me :)

Awurudu (Sinhala & Tamil New Year) falls on April every year and it is a joyful season indeed!

Little bit about AWURUDU :)

This is celebrated by both Sinhala Buddhists and the Tamil Hindus of Sri Lanka. According to the astrology, Awurudu begins when the sun moves from "Meena rashiya" (Pisces) to "Mesha rashiya" (Aries). It also marks the end of the harvest and spring. Before Awurudu day people clean their houses, buy new equipment (e.g. new cooking pots to prepare milk rice) and clothes. People believe awurudu bring joy to everyone and it is a good time to forget about any hardships they had and move on.

Things we do.....

Preparation of sweetmeats such as kavum, kokis, munguli, aluwa, aggala, atirasa, aasmi..etc... takes place at least three days prior to the Awurudu day.

In my home too we make a lot of food items. Apart from what my mother makes I normally prepare Kokis, Milk toffee, Date cake and Butter cake.

Rituals associated with Awurudu begin with having a bath on the last day of the old year and looking at the moon on the same night. (watching the moon might differ according to the auspicious times given by the astrologers)

There is a period referred to as the "Nonagathe" (Neutral period or "Punya kalaya"). During this time according to the traditions and religion, people stay away from work and engage in religious activities.

Cultural rituals begin shortly after the dawn of Awurudu. 
To start off cooking we light the fire (lighting the hearth) to make "kiribath" (milk rice). Also milk is boiled in a new earthen pot and allowed to boil over, symbolizing prosperity.

Then comes the time to enter into the first business transaction and eating the first meals. Also the elders of the family are been worshiped offering a sheaf of betel.

Awrudu customs end with "hisathel gaama" (applying oil on head). Some people do this at home and some go to the village temple to get it done by the monks. After we have a bath for the first time of the dawned new year.

Visiting relatives and friends is also an important features of this season.

The aroma of sweetmeat, the sound of raban and the koha's (Cuckoo bird) cry, symbolize that the entire country is ready to celebrate this joyous festival.

Rani ❤

She is a blonde water-talent fairy and one of Tinker Bell's best friends. She gave up her wings to save Mother Dove's egg, making her the only fairy who cannot fly, but also the only one who can swim.

Like all water talents, she is very emotional. She is a passionate dreamer who is enthusiastic and impulsive. She is the most ardent of the water fairies. A bird called Brother Dove helps her when she wants to fly.

She wears clothing with lots of pockets to hold her many leaf-kerchiefs, since she cries easily, sweats easily, and tends to get a runny nose, she really needs them!

She's enthusiastic and impulsive, she even jumps in to finish other fairies' sentences for them...

How to add Navigation Tabs to your blog and seperate posts with labels? :)

When you create a blog it is easy for the readers if the posts are categorized into sections. The easy way to do it is to include separate navigation tabs to your blog. It will give easy access to the reader as well as you can properly manage your content.

1) Go to your blog and click Design from the top corner.

2) Click Layout from the side pane.

3) You will be directed to the Layout page.
From that select any place where you need to have your navigation tabs and click on one of the 'Add a Gadget' options. (Normally the navigation tabs are added to the 'Cross-Column area)
This will open the Add a Gadget pop-up window.

4) Select HTML/ Java Script option.

5) You can follow the below example code to add your tabs accordingly.
Add your code to the Content section and click the Save button.

e.g. : If you are thinking of adding the navigation tabs displayed in the first image of this post, the code will be as below.. Also you will be able to sort them out through labels.

<div id='navibar'>
<a href="http://castakai.blogspot.com/" class="navitabs" title="Home">HOME</a>

<a href="http://castakai.blogspot.com/search/label/Me" class="navitabs" title="Me:)">#Me</a>

<a href="http://castakai.blogspot.com/search/label/Technical!" class="navitabs" title="Technical!">Technical!</a>

<a href="http://castakai.blogspot.com/search/label/InterestingFacts" class="navitabs" title="Interesting Facts ;)">Interesting Facts ;)</a>

<a href="http://castakai.blogspot.com/search/label/Fancy" class="navitabs" title="Fancy">Fancy :D</a>

<a href="http://castakai.blogspot.com/search/label/Sports" class="navitabs" title="Sports">Sports!</a>

<div></div></div>


6) Before saving the whole layout you can see a preview by clicking the Preview button.
If you think the design is good to go, click Save Arrangement button.

7) The added navigation tabs will now be visible in your blog.

Simple as that you can add navigation tabs as much as you want to organize your blog :)

Having second thoughts of reading Harry Potter and the Cursed Child?

*no spoilers*

Yes it was not fully written by Rowling so it was totally different from the previous books.. No wonder..
And yes it's not a novel it is the rehearsal script for the play Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.
All these facts were told throughout the internet before the book was released.
Then why do people complain about it? I don't understand!

I bought it cause it is all about going back to the Wizarding world of Harry Potter after all these years! I just love going back!
It is true that I could not feel the effect that I had when I was reading the previous seven books, yet I really enjoyed it.
It brought me tears while reading and Ron made me laugh.. (as usual he was there with his personality!)

I felt the story was fast forwarded and wish it was written as separate books as novels. Though the plot holes are very visible and spread throughout the story, they make heartfelt conversations between characters, so I did not mind them all that much.

Simply I did not want the book to end.. The kid inside me still loves to read Harry Potter stories and probably that's why after reading this I kept staring at it reminding all the incidents from the very first book!

What ever people say I loved it, I loved it simply to go back to that world of magic... ❤
If you are a die-hard Harry Potter fan you will not miss out reading this :)

 

Michael Phelps - Olympics Rio 2016

Waking up to see this in the morning (Sri Lankan time 10th August 2016) ^_^

 

21 Olympic Gold Medals and counting... ^_^ He is no wonder the most decorated Olympian of all time!!
I personally love the Butterfly stroke and because of him I love it more!

* About the above picture.. When someone see this while being in the race they realize already the race is over ;) He might have thought "I must watch how beautiful he swims" :D

It is indeed a nice sight to see Michael Phelps swimming! He has not lost often in the Olympics.

 

 “I was pretty fired up after that race,” Phelps said, adding, “I didn’t say anything to anybody else, but there wasn’t a shot in hell I was losing that tonight.”

 I feel that Michael Phelps was actually created for swimming by the gods of water O:)

And on the podium during the awarding ceremony he stood up with little teary eyes. 

 Wish to see Phelps’s legacy continues throughout in the beautiful world of swimming...

I saw this comment somewhere in the internet and thought it's interesting :D

"How to become stupid? : Challenge Michael Phelps!"

Olympics 2016 Rio - Swimming - Mathew Abeysinghe - Sri Lanka

I know it's not a final, yet to see the Sri Lankan flag like this in an Olympic event... :) In Rio 2016 Olympics swimming event Mathew Abeysinghe represented Sri Lanka ❤ He is the 1st swimmer ever qualify under the Olympic Standard (B) to represent Sri Lanka in the 2016 Rio Olympic Games.

Swimming is my favorite event in Olympics!  That was an amazing effort! Cheers!

• Men's 100m freestyle - Heats
• Rank: 50 with a timing of 50.96s

Hope someday I could see the Sri Lankan flag like this in a swimming final too!

Terence ❤

He is a dust-talent Disney fairy, who hands out pixie dust to other fairies each day so they may do their magic, and is calm and kind.  So he is a dust-keeper sparrow man. He has blonde hair and blue eyes and wears an acorn cap on his head.

Terence is Tinker Bell's best friend. He has a strong crush on her, which she is unaware of. (As a male fairy, he is sometimes referred to as a "sparrow man", a term Disney invented in an attempt to avoid calling them "fairies"). He is generally calm and logical, who thinks things through carefully, unlike Tinkerbell.

 He seems to have an eye for detail and appreciates beautiful things...