Thalawila St. Anne’s Church Festival on 1st August.

The annual Thalawila St. Anne’s Church Festival will be held on the 1st of August. This is one of the major Church Festivals in Sri Lanka, and holding of the festival was interrupted during the past years due to the terrorist problem.

The Thalawila church has a long history and once account says that a European Trader travelling in a ship dedicated to St. Anne, was shipwrecked off the coast of Thalawila in the 18th century and found the church following success in business after placing a vow at this place. The other account says that in the 17th century a Portuguese man travelling from Mannar to Colombo slept at a tree in Thalawila and dreamt seeing St. Anne’s statue at the foot of tree, and when he awoke from the dream the statue was physically there as he dreamt.

President Mahinda Rajapaksa and the First Lady Shiranthi Rajapaksa paid homage to the Holy Statue of St. Anne, on 1st July last year after defeat of terrorism last year, and a Special Religious ceremony was held during this visit.

The Railways Department will operate special train service to facilitate the devotees travelling to Thalawila. The train services will be operated from the Railway Stations of Moratuwa and Colombo Fort to Palavi in Puttalam and back on 31st July, 1st August and 2nd August.(niz).