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| Sunday, 25 July 2004 |
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| News Business Features Editorial
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Annual feast on August 8 : Back to the sands of Talawila by Dr. Granville Fernandoz Talawila that tiny speck of a fishing village perched on the tip of the Kalpitiya peninsula that has been lying idle and dormant for the past six months and more will once more spring back to life and activity. The age old shrine of St. Anne lying on the golden sands of Talawila wafted by vernal breezes, midst swaying ever green palms and sun kissed beaches will burst into song and activity when it will be celebrating its annual festival. The nave of the present church was put up in 1838 by that famous Oratorian priest from Goa, the Rev. Fr. Pedro de Noronha, who has to his credit the famous church at Parappandal - one of the largest churches in Jaffna. Originally Talawila came under the Archdiocese of Colombo. In 1940 when the infant diocese of Chilaw was carved out it was handed over to this new see. And the mantle of the new diocese fell on no other person that the Rt. Rev. Dr. Edmund Peiris who had a strong liking and predilection for St. Anne's Talawila. It was indeed a glove fit. Permit me to quote the late Dr. Peiris's own words. I owe much to St. Anne the good grandmother. I have known her shrine from my childhood and have spent weeks and months under her sacred shadow. It is full of hallowed memories to me: memories intimately linked up with everything that one values in a Catholic home of pious and affectionate parents. Dr. Peiris soon put Talawila on the map. His reign saw a number of innovations and improvements to the shrine. His crowning triumph was the tarred road that was constructed from Palakkudah to the shrine in 1950. with the able assistance of the late Sir John Kotelawala. Agriculture and fishing form a good part of the occupation. As I left Talawila I could not help capturing on celluloid the simple features of a village who was trying to sell a 'water-melon' or 'peni-komadu'. |
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