ndependence Day

Independence Day in Sri Lanka is celebrated on fourth of February each year. Sri Lanka has a colonial past and therefore this day has a totally separate significance for the people of the island. When the European colonists came to this island they introduced tea, cinnamon, indigo sugar, coffee and rubber plantations. Plantation economy meant that a large number of cheap laborers were needed to oil the wheels of plantation economy. Colombo was the nerve center of the new regimes. Western culture and Christianity brought a new identity for the people. During the Second World War, Sri Lanka served as a vital Allied military base. Large divisions of the American and British fleet were deployed here, the island teemed with tens of thousands of soldiers fighting the war against Japan in Southeast Asia.
After the Second World War, popular pressure for independence in the island intensified and the country finally won its independence on February 4, 1948 as the Commonwealth of Ceylon. The first prime minister of Sri Lanka was Don Stephen Senanayake. The country became a republic within the Commonwealth and the name was changed to Sri Lanka in 1972. Independence Day celebrations on fourth February each year mark the independence from British colonial rule. It is a state level celebration with the active participation of Government. Joyous celebrations are held throughout the country on this day.

In recent times, because of the conflict of the Sri Lanka Government with the Tamil rebels, the Independence Day celebrations each year were marred by violence. Colombo is usually decorated with lights and other festival decorative articles to mark and honor the day. The common people as well as the who’s who of Sri Lankan society all take part in Independence Day celebrations. For any country that was in the grips of colonial rule that made an indelible mark on her, freedom means much more than just getting rid of the shackles of colonialism.