سريلانكا

Dear Shankra Family,

It’s with deep regret and sorrow that we have to postpone our Sri Lankan edition to February 2024. The current political situation in the Island is not favorable for organizing an event of our scale.

All ticket holders of Shankra Sri Lanka 2022/2023 will be granted access to Shankra Sri Lanka 2024, which will host the same artistic value as we were planning to offer this year.

Optionally, if you wish to participate in Switzerland 2023 instead of Sri Lanka 2024, you can transfer your ticket accordingly.

If neither of the above proposals suits your plan, you are eligible for a complete refund.

For Ticket Rename please use the following link: https://www.beetickets.ch/shankra-sri-lanka-t-r

For Ticket transfer for Switzerland 2023, please use the following link:

https://www.beetickets.ch/shankra-sri-lanka-t-t

To get a complete Refund of your Ticket, please use the following link:

https://www.beetickets.ch/shankra-sri-lanka-r

Your Life is Your Message

Shankra Team

Dear Shankra Family,

We started this festival in 2015 and thanks to the enormous trust and effort by all our artists, deco crews, architects, volunteers, workers and most importantly by every single person who participated, we were able to make reality out of our desires and deliver five festival editions, year after year till 2020…when the pandemic hit the globe.

It’s with deep regret and sorrow that we have to postpone our Sri Lankan edition to February 2023. The current travel restrictions to and from Sri Lanka (7-day quarantine at arrival for unvaccinated people, and potential quarantine in the nation flying back for both) and due to the new variant Omicron, we would need to separate areas inside the festival venue for vaccinated people and unvaccinated people (after a negative PCR test at the entrance). With these given conditions, we are not able to conduct our event.

We acknowledge that with this late postponement our integrity might be in question since other festivals on the Island have been postponed 6 months ago. We didn’t want to postpone our event that early as we believed in our intention and worked towards it, hoping that the constant changes hitting the world would have been positive and worked in our favour.
Ultimately, this didn’t manifest as wished and it’s our moral responsibility to owe you our most sincere apologies.

Nevertheless, our gratitude goes to the Ministry of Tourism and the Ministry of Health of Sri Lanka, for dedicating their time and effort during the past months and for being supportive during the meetings that have been held.

All ticket holders of Shankra Sri Lanka 2022 will be granted access to Shankra Sri Lanka 2023, which will host the same artistic value as we were planning to offer this year and will take place from the 13th to the 19th of February 2023.

Optionally, if you wish to participate in Switzerland 2022 instead of Sri Lanka 2023, you can transfer your ticket accordingly, if you wish to resell in a secure way your ticket you can do it using our partner TicketSwap’s platform.

For Name Change (Active during January and May 2023), please write to:
shankra.ticket.transfer.lk@beetickets.ch

For TicketSwap use the following link: https://bit.ly/ShankraTicketSwap

For Ticket transfer for Switzerland 2022 (Active during January and May 2023), please write to: shankra.ticket.conversion.lk.ch@beetickets.ch

If you have any inquiry or reclaim, we kindly ask you to write to support@shankrafestival.org


Your Life is Your Message
Shankra Team

We are glad to announce that the projection of the documentary film Crazywise produced by Mr. Phil Borges will take place at Shankra Festival Sri Lanka 2022!

How can mental balance be linked to spirituality? Is it possible to address psychosis through a sort of spiritual awakening? The movie director and researcher Phil Borges researched these and other topics in this breathtaking documentary, which will be screened at Shankra Festival Sri Lanka 2022.

In his words: “the documentary film CRAZYWISE explored what we can learn from individuals in tribal and indigenous cultures who have turned their psychological crisis into a positive transformative experience.”

Since the release of the film, Phil Borges and his team have interviewed dozens of individuals In Europe and North America who have spoken of a profound feeling of connection to everyone and everything during their psychological crisis.  Several who have successfully navigated their crisis have awakened to a deeper sense of compassion and empathy and found more meaning, purpose and direction in their lives. How does this happen? Some exciting discoveries, in the world of Neuroscience and the renaissance in psychedelic research, point to a possible explanation. Phil Borges’ presentation will include some of the new and exciting work that is bridging the gap between Science and Spirituality in the world of mental health.

Before you start your adventure in Sri Lanka to reach Shankra Festival 2022, here are some practical information to allow you to begin this journey safely:

FOOD

To help avoid food-related problems, eat only freshly cooked food. It is better to avoid shellfish and not well-cooked fish, taking extra care to peel fruit and cook vegetables. If you feel like having a fresh salad, soak it in iodine water for at least twenty minutes.

Take care of your digestive system: if it’s your first time traveling or you have a delicate digestive process, always remember to pack some probiotic supplements, natural remedies and emergency medicines. Always remember to wash your hands thoroughly before eating.

WATER

Tap water is not safe to drink. Use bottled or filtered water; for the former, look for the small round ‘SLSI’ logo, which shows the water has been tested by the government’s Sri Lanka Standards Institution (the majority of local brands).

The climate reaches high temperature in this beautiful island: always remember to stay hydrated, drinking fresh filtered water and fruit juices. Always ask for filtered water when you try freshly made fruit juices.

TO KEEP IN MIND

Do your research before you go: in order to anticipate any food-related issue, research the local habits and health system. And if you want to turn your adventure in a culinary paradise, be sure to follow our news about Sri Lanka flavors: we will take you through the amazing world of Sri Lankan cuisine. You will be able to discover mouth-watering specialties and getting to know the dishes you will discover on the island!

In Sri Lanka, today is a special day: every April 14th is a collective celebration for locals of different religions. It is a day to honour life, together with the family, following local traditions of Puthandu, Aluth Avurudda, Baisaki, Vishu or Bihu, just some of the many ways that are used across cultures to define this festivity.

Puthandu (Tamil: தமிழ்ப்புத்தாண்டு) the Tamil New Year, is the first day of year on the Tamil calendar. Tamil people greet each other by saying "Iniya Puthāaṇdu vāazhthugal!" (இனிய புத்தாண்டு வாழ்த்துக்கள்), that means “Happy New Year!”. Families usually clean up the house, cook delicious specialties and wear new clothes.

Aluth Avurudda (Sinhala: අලුත් අවුරුද්ද) is also a traditional festivity of New Year, for Sinhalese people. It begins with the new moon between April 13th and 14th. This day marks the end of the harvest season and of spring. It is believed that together with the renovation of the year, a renovation of thoughts takes place.

These traditions date back to ancient times, where rituals and ceremonies connected humans to the rhythm of Nature. These rituals were shared between a wide range of cultures in South and South-East Asia, on this meaningful date of April 14th: this fact is considered by many to be an influence of the ancient shared culture in this area, in the 1st millennium CE. The advent of major religions in the different countries led to a re-interpretation of these rituals in a new light, giving birth to national New Year celebrations. In Sri Lanka, both Buddhism and Hinduism influenced local ceremonies and traditions, in a mix of Indigenous, Astrological, Hindu, and Buddhist traditions.

Today, across the island, people prepare trays with fruits, flowers and auspicious items, lighting up the family puja altar, meditating and visit their local temple. Kids seek blessings from their elders, later sitting down with the family for a huge and delicious vegetarian meal. Following the Tamil tradition, entrances of Tamil’s houses are decorated with colored Kolam or Muggu, a form of traditional decorative art drawn by using rice flour, stone powder or chalk.

In anthropology, the importance of yearly renovation is observed across pretty much all cultures in the world.

Nature teaches us that each year, each month and each day we have the chance to let go of our past burdens and take inspiration from the natural world, to rise stronger and fresher. Let’s celebrate together with Sri Lanka locals, renewing our thoughts and lighting up our spirits, while we wait for Shankra Festival Sri Lanka 2022.

What does “Anthropocene” mean? To what extent humans impact the planet? Can we improve the way we relate to the environment around us? During this conference, Gaia Vince will answer these questions and present her insights on this relevant topic, consequently leading a collaborative discussion.

This event asks the audience to consider the new human-dominated planet we are creating, as our species alters global temperatures, the world’s biodiversity and fundamentally changes Earth. We are entering the Anthropocene: the age of humans. No part of this planet is untouched by us, we’re even littering Space. We have made the world a better and safer place in many ways – more people now live longer, healthier lives. But we now risk these successes as we move into the hostile environment we have made. How can we make a Good Anthropocene, and what would that look like?

Audience requirements: bring a curious mind!

Gaia Vince is a science writer and broadcaster exploring the interplay between human systems and the planetary environment. She is an Honorary Senior Research Fellow at UCL. Gaia has travelled the world extensively to research this unique time in Earth’s history, in which increasing human activities are changing the planet – and us – as never before. Her first book, Adventures In The Anthropocene documents these changes, how they’re affecting communities from the global south to the rich world, and what we’re all doing about it. In 2015, it won the Royal Society Science Book of the Year Prize (the first female winner of the prize). Gaia's latest book, Transcendence, shortlisted for the 2020 Royal Society Book Prize, explores how we got here: how a smart ape became a planet-dominating force. It rewrites the story of our ‘ascent’, describing the co-evolution of our biology, environment and our culture. It’s the story of how we made ourselves and where we are headed.

Have a look at Gaia Vince's Official Website, follow her tweets @WanderingGaia, look at her pictures in Instagram

@wandering_gaia or enjoy her videos.