BEGIN:VCALENDAR METHOD:PUBLISH CALSCALE:GREGORIAN PRODID:-//EVDB//www.eventful.com//EN VERSION:2.0 BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART:20080823T000000 DTSTAMP:20080815T101844Z SUMMARY:Sri Lanka Day on Saturday August 23rd 2008 at 3rd Street Prome nade\, Santa Monica\, CA DESCRIPTION:The Sri Lanka Foundation today announced that the annual � ��SRI LANKA DAY’ will take place on Saturday the 23rd August 2008 on the 3rd Street Promenade in Santa Monica. Since its inception in 200 6\, Sri Lanka Day includes the best of Sri Lankan culture and food fro m Wilshire Blvd to Arizona Ave\, making Sri Lanka Day the biggest even t held at the Promenade. All Sri Lanka day festivities are free to th e public\, and all are welcome to attend. \n\nSri Lankan Food \nSri La nka Day is perhaps the only day of the year people in Los Angeles are able to have a taste of Sri Lankan food in a fun and festive environme nt\, which is cooked live in the most exciting of ways. Thousands of f amilies living in Santa Monica and greater Los Angeles have fallen in love with the food offered at Sri Lanka Day since the first Sri Lankan Day in 2006 and now people from San Francisco and even Canada make th is their annual pilgrimage to quench their appetite for spicy\, exotic Sri Lankan food. \n\nThe favorite Sri Lankan foods available are H oppers- a crispy\, pancake- type item made with many a twirl. The edge s are crispy and the middle is soft. Hoppers are usually eaten with me at or vegetable curry. Kottu Roti-similar to a Mongolian barbecue- is made\, with eggs\, meat and vegetables-a treat to watch the cooking an d tastes so good! String hoppers- a soft stringy- type item accompanie d by curry. Pol rotti-bread made of flour and coconut-served with spic y onions or curry. Sri Lankan savory short eats-that’s the name for Sri Lankan snacks similar to Tapas and Empanadas-once you start with t hese you can't stop! Of course\, they’ll be lots of Rice and curry-m ade Sri Lankan style. And no Sri Lankan food festival would be complet e without Sri Lankan Sweets-Colorful and sweet.\n\nSri Lanka Day Parad e \nAt 4 P.M the Sri Lanka Day parade will take place with Sri Lankan dancers\, drummers\, masked performers\, flag bearers and a theatre el ephant to pay honor to an ancient parade that occurs annually in Sri L anka.\n\nThe Sri Lanka Day Parade is the most important event of Sri L anka Day because of its ancient religious and cultural significance to Sri Lankans. The Sri Lanka Day Parade pays homage to the annual “Es ala Perahera” held in the city of Kandy in Sri Lanka in which hundre ds of dancers\, drummers\, flag bearers\, masked performers and elepha nts adorned with beautiful garments parade through the city. All perfo rmers and elephants in the “Esala Perahera” are pledged from vario us Hindu kovils\, Buddhist temples and individuals who volunteer their time and resources as a sacred duty.\n\nThe religious importance of t he “Esala Perahera” is that it is dedicated to the sacred tooth re lic belonging to the Buddha. The sacred tooth relic is kept in custody of the “Temple of the Tooth” in the city of Kandy on behalf of th e ruler of Sri Lanka and the custody of the tooth ensures the divine r ight to rule the land. The “Esala Perahera” is the only occasion w here the sacred tooth relic is taken out of the temple and it is carri ed in a casket on top of an elephant.\n\nSri Lanka Foundation is proud that we have been able to organize the Sri Lanka Day Parade with full support of the Sri Lankan community in Southern California and are ab le to share our rich heritage in America. \n\nMiss Sri Lanka America a nd Miss Teen Sri Lanka America pageant\nThe stage on Broadway and 3rd Street corner will be hosting the Miss Sri Lanka-America and the Miss Teen Sri Lanka America beauty pageants\, a fashion show and teen dance crews. \nYou will see the beauties parading in colorful traditional S ri Lankan clothing including jacket and cloth and saris\, evening wear and competing in a talent contest for the crown. The uniqueness of t he Miss Sri Lanka America and Miss Teen Sri Lanka America is the focus on Sri Lankan culture and a relaxing of traditional pageant perimeter s\, opening the contest to all types of beauty: the conventional\, the unconventional\, the hidden\, the incongruous\, and the subjective.\n Sri Lankan- American rapper DeLon will make a special stage appearance here at the Broadway and 3rd Street stage. There will be lots of danc e crews and DJ’s from Los Angeles to entertain the crowds.\nA fashio n show featuring models adorned in Sri Lankan batiks and other Sri Lan kan clothing will take place at the same stage.\n\nNon-stop Entertainm ent\nThe stage on Wilshire and 3rd Street corner will host Sri Lankan and American musicians and dancers that will keep the audience enterta ined from 10 AM-10 PM. You will see the traditional Sri Lankan “Kand yan” dancers and drummers\, Bharatha Natyam dancers perform througho ut the day. These traditional Sri Lankan performers are a rare treat in Southern California and usually attract many Asian dance enthusiast s and shutterbugs to see their mesmerizing performance.\nThere will be special dance performances highlighting the religious and cultural ev ents important to the Sri Lankan community. This stage will come alive with the Sri Lankan American bands “Heat”\, “Beyond Asia”\, � ��Strangers” and a performance by George Rutnam’s band playing pop ular Sri Lankan and western music until 10 PM. \n\n Information about Sri Lanka Day and Sri Lanka Foundation is available via the Internet a t:\n\nwww.srilankafoundation.org\nwww.slday.com\nwww.myspace.com/srila nkafoundation\nwww.facebook.com/srilankafoundation\nwww.flickr.com/sri lankafoundation\nwww.youtube.com/srilankafoundation\nwww.secondlife.co m/srilankafoundation LOCATION:Santa Monica @ Third Street Promenade, Santa Monica, Californ ia 90401 United States SEQUENCE:1218795524 UID:E0-001-014717151-2 URL:http://eventful.com/E0-001-014717151-2 END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR