Sun Siyam Pasikudah marks New Year in style

Sun Siyam Pasikudah, part of the Prive Collection within The House of Siyam, celebrated the Sinhala and Tamil New Year on 14 April with a vibrant, full day programme that brought together guests and team members in true festive spirit, warm, lively, and centred around shared traditions and generous feasts. The day followed the rhythm that Sri Lankan families know well. At the auspicious hour determined by the almanac for the New Year, the hearth at The Kitchen was ceremonially lit and the milk pot set to boil, symbolising warmth, unity, and the drawing in of abundance for the year ahead. This followed another auspicious moment at noon where a Traditional Sweet Table was laid out, where kiribath, kokis, kavum, aasmi and more were on offer, prepared by the resort’s culinary team and enjoyed by guests who had gathered, some for whom this was the most natural thing in the world, and others encountering the tradition for the very first time.

From 3:00 PM onwards, the afternoon opened into games. The resort grounds hosted the full run of Avurudu classics: Kana Muttiya (Pot Breaking), Kaba Adeema (Tug of War), Banis Kama (Bun Eating Contest), Balum Pipirawima (Balloon Blowing), Kotta Pora (Pillow Fighting), the Sack Race, Spoon Race, Blindfold Yogurt Feeding, Eyeing the Elephant, and Finding the Coin on the Plate. Guests of all ages joined in, and the kind of laughter that filled the afternoon is really the only way to describe what Avurudu at its best feels like.

“We wanted our guests, wherever they had travelled from, to feel genuinely part of that, not simply watching from the outside. I think the day showed that Pasikudah is a place where that kind of celebration feels entirely at home,” said Arshed Refai, General Manager, Sun Siyam Pasikuda.

The celebration is also a reflection of a broader moment for this stretch of the Sri Lankan coast. Pasikudah has long been known among those who seek it out: a bay of extraordinary calm and clarity, unhurried in a way that the island’s busier coastal destinations rarely are. What has shifted in recent years is that more people are finding it.