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2009-12-23
The annual Christmas programme “Diyawanna Naththal Gee Mihira” was celebrated on the 23rd of December 2009 at the Hon. Speaker’s official residence, with the customary celebrations on a simple note.
The service began with the blessing of the Hon. Speaker’s residence with the sprinkling of holy water by Most Rev. Dr. Malcolm Ranjith the Archbishop of Colombo who was the chief guest. Then came the opening procession. The alter servers, the priests, Hon. Speaker and the Archbishop came in procession. Then the service started with a commentary by Rev. Fr. Benedict Joseph. The relevant Bible readings were read with the singing of ‘Arambayen Pera’, a landmark hymn written by Fr. Jacome Gonsalvez and the singing was by Mr. Lawrence Martin, Mr. Sunil Shantha Warnakulasooriya and the group.
Rev. Fr. Saman Maximus chanted the gospel narrative of the nativity of Child Jesus. It was then that the live crib wended its way to the stage to the beating of ‘Magul Bera’ and waving of ‘Chamara’ (fly whisks). This was indeed a very colourful moment of the religious service. Just after the live crib approaching the stage, the chief guest Most Rev. Dr. Malcolm Ranjith gave his Christmas message and the Christmas blessing. As customary, this year too there was the presentation of the special Christmas publication titled “Sri Lankawe Kithunu Dayakathwaya” written by Archbishop Emeritus Rt. Rev. Dr. Oswald Gomis.
The carols were presented by many groups representing their respective establishments such as the Associated Newspapers Limited, Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation, etc and were supplemented by other choir groups such as St. Mary’s Church Dehiwela, Youth Association of Gurubewila Disawa and Bolawatta Carol group. For the second consecutive time a choir comprising of the children of parliament staff members also performed. They were trained by Rev. Fr. Sriyananda Fernando, Director of Joe Neth Studio, Colombo. In addition, the evening was beautified with a dance item performed by the students of Mrs. Rajini Selvanayagam of "Chamara Kalayathanaya".
The evening was graced by the Hon. Speaker, First Lady Mrs. Shiranthi Rajapaksa, Ministers, Members of Parliament, His Excellency Monsignor Joseph Spiteri the current Apostolic Nuncio of Sri Lanka and religious dignitaries, while the staff of the Parliament Secretariat were also present. This programme was organized by the Staff of Parliament together with the Ministry of Religious Affairs and the Ministry of Mass Media and Information.
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