Sri Lanka fireball performers add thrills to processions - in pictures

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  Torches made out of cotton rags, that will be used by Sri Lankan traditional fireball dancers for a Buddhist temple procession, are kept in a tractor to be transported to a training venue in Walpola. Eranga Jayawardena / AP

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  An aspiring Sri Lankan traditional fireball dancer Pasindu Nirmal sits next to a ring of torches used for performances, at their training venue in Walpola. Every year around 15 children of around 10 years of age join the group of aspirants and are taught everything they need to know from preparing and repairing the torches, to all the moves and, most importantly, how to dance in unison with each other. Eranga Jayawardena / AP

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  Fireball dancers create patterns with their torches during a Buddhist temple procession in Walpola. Fireball performers primarily had the task of lighting up streets by holding torches but later turned from light-givers to performers, their torches being re-crafted and their movements choreographed to produce an epic and unforgettable spectacle. Eranga Jayawardena / AP

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  Elandari Devage Tillekaratne, 62, the leader of the Walpola Ginikeli Kawaya, or the Walpola Fire Dancers’ Circle, lights an oil lamp as his team of young performers pray at a Buddha shrine before leaving to perform in a Buddhist temple procession, at their training center in Walpola, on the outskirts of Colombo. Eranga Jayawardena / AP

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  Young aspiring Sri Lankan fireball performers hold torches and attend a rehearsal at Walpola. Fireball performers, as they are called now in Sri Lanka’s religious and cultural pageants, primarily had the task of lighting up streets by holding torches but later turned from light-givers to performers. Eranga Jayawardena / AP

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  Aspiring Sri Lankan traditional fire dancers practice their movements during a rehearsal at their training venue in Walpola. Fireball performers are now an essential part of all major Sri Lanka pageants, specially the famous procession of the tooth relic of the Buddha in which the relic is encased in a glittering casket atop the Royal Elephant and taken around the city of Kandy in central Sri Lanka. Eranga Jayawardena / AP

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  Elandari Devage Tillekaratne, 62, left, the leader of the Walpola Ginikeli Kawaya, or the Walpola Fire Dancers’ Circle, mends a torch used by fire dancers at his courtyard in Walpola, on the outskirts of Colombo. Eranga Jayawardena / AP

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  Elandari Devage Tillekaratne watches aspiring fire dancers during a rehearsal at his courtyard in Walpola. Along with his two sons, Tillekaratne trains about fifteen dancers for performances in various parts of the country throughout the year. Eranga Jayawardena / AP

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  Elandari Devage Tillekaratne, 62, the leader of the Walpola Ginikeli Kawaya, or the Walpola Fire Dancers’ Circle, standing centre in background, watches aspiring fire dancers during a rehearsal at his courtyard in Walpola. Eranga Jayawardena / AP

COLOMBO // In the days before electric street lights, the torch-bearers in Sri Lanka’s religious and cultural pageants offered no dance or theatrics. They were simply there so people could see.

In the decades since, they have become fireball performers, their torches being recrafted and their movements choreographed to produce an epic and unforgettable spectacle. They are now an essential part of all major Sri Lanka pageants, especially the famous procession of the tooth relic of the Buddha, which is encased in a glittering casket atop the royal elephant and taken around the central city of Kandy.

Elandari Devage Tillekaratne has been part of the procession, known as the Dalada Perahera, for 40 years. Along with his two sons, the 62-year-old leader of the Walpola Fire Dancers’ Circle trains about 15 dancers for performances in various parts of the country throughout the year.

While the objective of Perahera night is veneration of the relic, the fireball performers provide the thrills spectators have come to expect. There are no shortcuts permissible when it comes to faith; hence the long hours of rehearsals to perfect each step, including many performed on stilts.

* Associated Press