A few weeks ago, my husband, mother and I attended the "Katina Pinkama" at our local Sri Lankan Buddhist temple. A "Katina" ceremony is a very special occasion in the Buddhist calendar in Sri Lanka, Cambodia, Myanmar (Burma) and Thailand; it marks the end of the rainy season in ancient India, where Buddha and his disciples would retreat into caves and temples to wait out the huge storms. You can read more on the fascinating history of this ancient rite
here, on the
Lanka Library website -- this excellent article on the Vas ceremony was written by Sumana Saparamadu, who is one of my husband's relatives and also one of my mother's teachers at her school in Sri Lanka!
In our temple, this is a day for chanting prayers and getting together with everyone after the monks have been served their noon meal. People come from all over northern California to our temple for the "Katina" ceremony. This year, there were folks from Thai, Cambodian, Chinese and Bangaladeshi temples! I loved the diversity and color all around.
In Sri Lanka, you have to wear white or light colors to go to the temple, and that's what we all did. Jeans are acceptable in temples here in America, due to the colder weather, but if I were in Sri Lanka I would opt for a long white dress or skirt, or maybe even a white sari.
My husband wore a white dress shirt and light "sand" color trousers, which were the same colors he wore for the first temple rite we did together, just before our marriage registration! It was a perfect ensemble for this year's temple service, as well:
(click to enlarge)My mother wore a soft white crepe sari with sky-blue embroidery at the edge. She was the only Sri Lankan woman there in a sari. Here she is, serving lunch to the monks:
(click to enlarge)I wore light-colored jeans as I didn't have any light-colored pants, and the weather was too cold for my skirts. I also wore a soft white cotton blouse with pintucks down the front, one of my favorites:
(click to enlarge)Blouse: Macy's
Jeans: Paige Premium "Canon" flare-leg
Shoes (not shown above): Charles David "Hottie" t-strap sandals
The photo doesn't show my favorite part of the blouse: little silver-threadwork embroidered dots:
(click to enlarge)They shimmered in the sunlight! To match, I wore silver sandals (which I had to remove at the temple door, unfortunately!). I think silver shoes are a must for white clothes, as the two colors complement each other so well.
(click to enlarge)Here's a shot of me wearing them:

My wardrobe was perfect for the occasion. I deliberately bought some white blouses last year; didn't have any in my wardrobe, but I knew they'd be perfect for the temple. I'm so glad I did that!
All in all, it was a memorable and beautiful day! It felt really good to be back at the temple again, and I'm looking forward to future temple ceremonies.