SriLanka is well known for its diversity with over 22 numerically smallcommunities and majority communities such as Sinhalese, Tamils and Muslims.Burgher community is one of the numerically small communities. Largeproportions of the Burghers do live in the Batticaloa District and a smallproportion live both in Trincomalee and Ampara District. At the same time thereare Portuguese Burghers living in all parts of the country in small numbers.

The Portugueseera marked the end of medieval Sri Lanka and the beginning of modern Sri Lanka.It changed the island’s orientation away from India and gave it a uniqueidentity moulded by almost 500 years of Western influence due to thepresence of three successive European powers : the Portuguese (1505-1658),the Dutch (1658-1796) and the British (1796-1948). The Portuguese culturalimprint can be analysed by examining: (a) those who claim Portuguesedescent (the Portuguese Burghers), (b) those who do not claimPortuguese descent but who follow the Roman Catholic faith, (c) thosewho are neither of Portuguese descent nor follow the Catholic faith butnevertheless underwent a sociocultural transformation. Language is a necessaryelement in the set of culture. The other elements are subjective and couldinclude religion, food, dress, music and dance.

The interaction of the Portuguese and the Sri Lankans led to theevolution of a new language, “Sri Lanka Portuguese Creole”, which flourished asa lingua franca in the island for over three and a half centuries(16th to mid-19th). Ceylon Portuguese was a prominent language and themother tongue of the Portuguese Burgher communities and the firstadministrative language of Ceylon. Pidgins and Creoles are contact languages;they evolve when people who do not speak each other’s mother-tongue come intocontact. Pidgins only survive as long as the interlingual contact lasts and aregenerally short-lived. The etymon of Pidgin is business. A Creole is a Pidginwhich has become the mother-tongue of a speech community. Sri Lanka PortugueseCreole, a subset of Indo-Portuguese (the Portuguese Creole that flourished incoastal India), has been the solution to the inter-communication problems thatarose when the Portuguese and Sri Lankans came into contact. In Sri Lanka,miscegenation reinforced the Creole as the mestiços (offspring of aPortuguese father and a Sri Lankan mother) were bilingual – they wereproficient in the Creole and Sinhala or Tamil. Boxer (1961: 61) comments thatthe Eurasians (mestiços), or even slave women, kept alive the use ofthe Portuguese language in places like Batavia, Malacca and Ceylon (Sri Lanka),during the time of Dutch control following the Portuguese. Not to forget theseparate court system that was followed for the Portuguese Burghers in the Eastduring this time.

Portuguese forts

There are several Portuguese built forts all around the island. Theyare:

Kalutara fort

ThePortuguese first built a fort in Kalutara and was surrendered to theDutch in 1655 without a shot being fired; it was later enlarged by theconquering Dutch with the addition two bastions. Very little of it remainstoday.

Kayts Island fort andDelft Island fort

Kayts Island Fort, also known asUrundai Fort, was built by the Portuguese in 1629 and was abandoned in 1651. Inthe late 1600s, the Dutch took control of the fort however they did notundertake any renovations, unlike many of the other former Portuguese forts.The fort is horseshoe shaped with four circular bastions, built to protect theJaffna Peninsula.

Mannar fort

Built on the island of Mannar by thePortuguese in 1560, it surrendered to the Dutch on 22 February 1658 and wasrebuilt by the Dutch in 1696. On 5 October 1795 the Dutch surrendered to theBritish. The fort has four bastions and it’s still in good condition.

Matara fort

The fort was built by thePortuguese about 1550 but the actual fort was built by the Dutch when they tookMatara, after the capture of Galle. The remains of the fort are in goodpreservation.

Menikkadawara fort

Menikkadawara fort was built byPortuguese in 1599 with the intention of operations against Kandyan forces. Itwas not major fort, but it had strategical important. Dutch map indicates it as“Tontotte fort”.

Negombo fort

A small but important fort in thetown of Negombo, north of Colombo was built by the Portugueseto defend Colombo. In 1640 the Dutch destroyed it and rebuilt it not on theusual square pattern, but on a pentagonal one, though it had only fourbulwarks. The fort was located on a narrow strip of land between a lagoon and an inlet ofthe sea. It was surrounded by moats, and the gate was accessed via a drawbridge.The English occupied it in 1796. Today only part of the walls and an archedgateway remains of the fort. It is used as a prison by the Department ofPrisons.

Pooneryn fort

Built in the Pooneryn area of north portion ofthe island first by the Portuguese to protect its possessions in Jaffna, it wasexpanded by the Dutch till in 1770 it was recorded that it was square shapedwith two bastions at opposite corners; the rampart on each of the sides wasabout 30 metres and was garrisoned till the late 18th century. The Britishbuilt a rest house in 1805. Since 1983 due to the civil war it was garrisonedby the Sri Lankan Army till it withdrew from the Pooneryn area in 1991; andrecaptured in 2009. Ruins of the fort remains, however in bad condition.[3]

Ratnapura fort

The fort was built by thePortuguese, between 1618 and 1620, in Ratnapura. It was later captured anddestroyed by the Kandyan king Kirti Sri Rajasinha.

Ruwanwella fort

It was originally built asstockade in the 1590s by the Portuguese; however, the Dutch, in 1665, built awooden fort. The British, in 1817, built a new fort with two bastions and usedas an outpost. Today it remains in good condition and houses a police station.

Hanwella fort

The original fort was built bythe Portuguese in 1957, at Hanwella. The fort was subsequentlycaptured by the Dutch, who constructed a larger fort. In 1786 it fell under theBritish rule and fell into disrepair. The site is currently occupied by theHanwella Rest House and the ruins of the fort can still be identified.

Batticaloa Fort –1628

Jaffna fort –1618

The Portuguese forts which were captured by the Dutch were named as Dutch Forts and now they are called the Dutch Forts.

Historical background

ThePortuguese who landed in this island at the beginning of the sixteenth centuryheld way over its maritime provinces for well over a century.

Historyreveals that Batticaloa was taken by the Portuguese and retained as part oftheir occupied territory until 1639 when the Dutch made themselves of thisDistrict.

Aboutthe 15^th century, Batticaloa District formed part of the KandyanKingdon, when the Sinhala Kings held away, and Batticaloa was known as‘Puliyanduwa’. Though known as Puliyanduwa in the days of old, Batticaloa didhave another name of ‘Mada Kalapuwa’. The Portuguese who came in gave this towna new name ‘Batecalou’ and this name was changed to ‘Batticalou’ by the Dutchand to ‘ Batticaloa’ by the British who followed the Dutch. Joa and de Cutestates that the District had much rice which they called Bate, hence thePortuguese called the Batticaloa District ‘the Kingdom of Rice’. The Britishanglicised Batecalou to Batticaloa and called it the ‘Greenery of the East’.

Duringthis period, the Portuguese did build a Fort in Batticaloa on a site leastvulnerable from sudden attack and inaccessible to big vessels from the sea. Thefort was erected in a corner of Puliyantivu which was surrounded by theBatticaloa lagoon. This lagoon formed a natural barrier against attack on twoflanks of the fort. The moat served as an adequate line of defence on the landside.

ThePortuguese though overpowered in Batticaloa by the combined army of the Dutchand the Sinhalese were nevertheless fearless, brave and untiring warriors.During the Dutch and the British period, these Portuguese Burghers are said tohave suffered much, and when the subsequent conquerors expelled thesePortuguese descendant from their kingdom, they are believed to have beensettled in certain parts of the Kandyan Kingdom.

The SinhalaOnly Act, formally the Official Language Act No. 33 of 1956, was an actpassed in the Parliament of Ceylon in1956. The act replaced Sinhalese as the official language of Ceylon. Theact was controversial as supporters of the act saw it as an attempt by acommunity that had just gained independence to distance themselves from theircolonial masters, while its opponents viewed it as an attempt by the linguisticmajority to oppress and assert dominance on minorities. During this period mostof the well-educated Burghers left the Island and migrated to other countries.

Thenfollowed the prolonged war and tsunami which paved the way for the Burghers tointernally displace and also migrate to other countries too. We would like tocreate links and establish connection with the Burghers who are displaced andmigrated.

What are the differentnames they are called?

Ithas been common practice in discussing the Burghers of Sri Lanka to distinguishbetween those of Dutch descent, the “Dutch Burghers”, and those of Portuguesedescent, the “Portuguese Burghers”, or more derogatorily, the “PortugueseMechanics” or “Dhurai”. In Tamil the term “Parangi” and Sinhala “Lanci” is usedto address the Portuguese Burghers. Some of the locals address the Burghers as“Dhurai” When Portuguese arrived in Sri Lanka the Arabs were trading from SriLanka and the Portuguese were named as “Firanji” both in India and in SriLanka. With time the term “Firanji” has become “Parangi” and the PortugueseBurghers in the East are addressed as by the Tamils with this particular nameand is documented in the stat  istics atthe Divisional Secretariats.

With the initiation of Mr. Earl Barthelot, (2010-2014) area committees werere-formed in areas where Burghers are living in villages in the EasternProvince which now counts to 15 including of those from Trincomalee andAkkaraipattu. Our aim is to extend our Burgher membership to those living inwhat is known as ‘outstation’ areas of Sri Lanka.  We would especiallylike to welcome those living in Jaffna, Mannar, Matara, Kandy, Hambantota etc.

We extend a warm welcome to join us in preserving and nurturing theBurgher community, to proffer  the goodwill of our community across othercommunities and join hands with others to help those in need, especially thosewith ailing health, and the young, with  education and employmentopportunities.

• Inter relationships

Somecommentators believe that the Burghers’ own mixed backgrounds have made theirculture more tolerant and open. While inter-communal strife has been a featureof modern Sri Lankan life, some Burghers have worked to maintain good relationswith other ethnic groups. However, prejudices within the community as a resultof a condescending attitude outside of it, have caused some migrant Burghers totake on the traditions of the country in which they reside and disconnect fromthe ties to their country afterwards.

ManySinhalese adopted Portuguese surnames-although most were modified to adegree-but this practice did not necessarily denote conversion to RomanCatholicism. Such names (and their Portuguese form) include Corea (Correia),Croos (Cruz), De Abrew (Abreu), De Alwis (Alves), De Mel (Melo), De Saram(Serra), De Silva (Da Silva), De Soysa or De Zoysa, Dias, De Fonseka or Fonseka(Fonseca), Fernando (Fernandes), Gomes or Gomis, Mendis (Mendes), Perera(Pereira), Peiris or Pieris (Peres), Rodrigo (Rodrigues), Salgado, and Vaas(Vaz). These two last examples are well-known both in in Sri Lanka and in the internationalarena. Chaminda Vaas, Cricketer, formerly Sri Lanka’s most successful new-ballbowler andField Marshal Honourable Sarath Fonseka, Hewas the eighteenth Commander of SriLankan Army,and under his command the Sri Lankan Army ended the 26-year Sri Lankan Civil War in 2009.

• Salient features

Burghersmay vary from generation to generation in physical characteristics; someintermarried with the British and produced descendants with predominantlyEuropean phenotypes, including fair skin and aheavier physique, while others were almost indistinguishable from Sinhaleseor Tamils.

Phenotypically Burghers can be eitherlight skinned or dark skinned, depending on their ancestral history it iscommon to find Burghers with dark to light brownskin (usually Portuguese Burghers) and possess European facial featurescommon to the Mediterranean basin. In some Portuguese Burgher families it iscommon to have both, very dark children and children with fair skin.

• Currentstatus

The Burgher population in theDistrict of Batticaloa only forms 5% of the population, while the Tamils are amajority community and the Muslims come a second. Hence very often the resultsof the election, quite naturally showed that the voters had always been communityconscious. The first MP had always been a Tamil and very often the second MPwas a Muslim. It is natural, probably, that after the elections, the 1^stMP had to look after the interests of the Tamil population while the 2^ndhad to cater to the needs of the Muslims.

After the country gainedindependence, the Government decided that the children should be taught in themother tongue.  For the children who wereneither Tamil nor Sinhala the option to have their education in their ownmother tongue which are either Portuguese or English, was not provided by theGovernment of Sri Lanka. In Batticaloa, for the community that formed fivepercent of the population the choice to have the education in their mothertongue was not facilitated or provided by the then Government of Ceylon.  The parents were not given a choice. Whetherthey liked it or not, they were forced to send their children either to theSinhala medium or Tamil medium schools.

These children had to learn oneof these languages and compete with those whose mother tongue had been thenational languages. Universities thus became out of bounds for these children.Job opportunities were nil, for they had not only to compete with the Tamil andSinhala children, but also have had the need to make the necessary entries inthe ‘Race’ column.

Presidential commission onconstitutional reform in Sri Lanka recently visited Batticaloa to record thegrievances. I highlighted the following:

1. Portuguese Burghers feel and realize that the Burghers are not recognized as a community in Sri Lanka for following reasons. a. In the census Portuguese Burghers are mentioned as others, even in the District Secretariat statistical book too. Therefore it must be mentioned as “Portuguese Burghers”. b. Burghers are not allowed to wear our cultural or traditional dress at work place, this should be included in the constitution and if it is mentioned already, it should be reinstated. c. We are not given equal ground or right to learn, teach and speak our mother tongue at school or any other places. Opportunities for Burghers should be created to study their mother tongue at schools. d. Our existence and history is not taught at school or media. Other communities too should learn the history of Burghers, existence, culture, tradition, cuisine, dress, sports etc at school and at the University which will bring knowledge, understanding, acceptance, co-existence and unity in the country. e. We are not given any opportunity or chances to practice, learn and to preserve our culture, heritage and tradition to our younger generation and to maintain the artefacts that remain the country. Opportunities should be given for these. f. Our heritage and our traditional game is football. Burghers are not given any facilities or motivation to play and practice the game of football. We the Eastern Portuguese Burghers need at least a playground to play. g. Burgher names are difficult to be written in the local languages. We prefer to write it in English. But our need is not recognized in this country at present. Birth certificate, Marriage certificate, National Identity card etc are the preferred documents. h. Job opportunities for the Burghers at government institutions are not given. The percentage systems of giving job opportunities affect the Burghers, as the Burghers are numerically small and not even 1% of the entire population in Sri Lanka. This situation should be changed. i. Election system in Sri Lanka does not give room for numerically small communities such as Portuguese Burghers to represent at the parliament, municipality, provincial council or Pradeshiya Sabha. Numerically small communities should be treated equally and impartially as other communities. j. We believe Sri Lankans have the right to practice any religion. The government does not recognize the religious rights of the numerically small communities. Therefore we do not enjoy the rights enjoyed by the majority communities. k. War and tsunami has made the Portuguese Burghers seek shelter in different parts of the country. No efforts taken towards gathering the Portuguese Burghers at one place at least once in a year. We need a place such as Nelum Pokana for the Eastern Burghers.
2. Sri Lankan Government do not take any efforts to maintain ties with the Portuguese government to the extent it is done by the Indian government especially in Delhi and Goa. As the SL government is allowing the Indian government to help the Tamils in Sri Lanka, if the Portuguese government is allowed to help the Portuguese Burghers in the East, it will help the country at large.
3. The National Flag should symbolize the diverse communities that live and the Unity and co-existence and peace in Sri Lanka.
4. Local industries that belong to each community must be recognized and embraced.
5. In the Independence Day celebrations and events Burghers also should be included.

The Burghers of Batticaloa aretoday a frustrated lot for these reasons.

We have problems unresolved.These problems are discussed quite regularly at our meetings of the BurgherUnion. But, or what use of it? How far can our voices travel?

1. Population and Geographical distribution

Atthe 1981 Census, the Burghers (Dutch and Portuguese) were almost 40,000 (0.3%of the population of Sri Lanka). Many Burghers immigrated to other countries.There are still 100 families in Batticaloa and Trincomalee and 80 Kaffirfamilies in Puttalam that still speak the Portuguese Creole; they have been outof contact with Portugal since 1656. The Burgher population worldwide isapproximated to be around 100,000, concentrated mostly in the United Kingdom,Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

Latest information on population distribution by theBatticaloa District Secretariat.

• Language

This community ofpeople have still not forgotten their language Portuguese. The Portuguesespoken by them has been described as Creole Portuguese. Ian R. Smith in hisbooks has stated that the Portuguese spoken today has incorporated somedistinctive features of the local Batticaloa Tamil dialect. The long andtenacious history of the Creole Portuguese speech in the island, Batticaloaharbours the only significant concentration of creole speakers now in Sri Lankaand their fluency is being strongly threatened by the local emphasis on Tamil.”

ThePortuguese descendants have not, to a great extent, followed the local Tamil/Moor kinship structure. There is very little evidence of ‘close’ cross cousinmarriage. Probably this may be due to the Catholic ban on marriage within theprohibited degrees of kinship.

Sinhala and Tamil words of Portugueseorigin 

This vocabulary influence was remarkable: there was a rapid absorption ofperhaps a thousand Portuguese words into Sinhala and Tamil. These “loanwords” as they termed by lexicographers rarely appear in the same form asthe original; the vast majority have undergone naturalisation.

Examples include: almariya (wardrobe), annasi (pineapple), baldiya (bucket),bankuwa (bench), bonikka (doll), bottama (button), gova (cabbage), kabuk(laterite, a building material), kalisama (trousers), kamisaya (shirt), kussiya(kitchen), lensuwa (handkerchief), masaya (month), mesaya (table), narang(orange), nona (lady), paan (bread), pinturaya (picture), rodaya (wheel), rosa(pink), saban (soap), salada (salad), sapattuwa (shoe), simenti (cement),sumanaya (week), toppiya (hat), tuwaya (towel), viduruwa (glass).

• Religion/s

The PortugueseBurghers are Catholic to a man and generally devoted Catholics too. TheCatholic Church (Chapel) at the Sand Bar dedicated to the Our Lady of Voyage isbelieved to have been constructed by the Portuguese.

• Life style

The majority of thePortuguese descendants are craftsmen. Among these mechanically gifted peopleare found expert black smiths, key smiths, leather product makers, mastercarpenters, tailors, printers, painters and mechanics. Out of cast – off piecesof iron, these gifted Burgher mechanics forge many articles noted in the townfor their cheapness and high quality. These range from parts of heavy machineryto kitchen knives. With a long tradition of mechanical aptitudes behind them,there is practically nothing that is beyond capabilities of these black-smiths.

These Portuguesecraftsmen are not only talented blacksmiths and gifted carpenters. Untilrecently when the Government decided to withdraw all firearms from theresidents of Batticaloa for security reasons, Batticaloa’s only gunsmiths werePortuguese Burghers. With the withdrawal of guns, these men have been forced toput their shutters down or turn to other crafts like carpentry and cyclerepairs.

Till recent times, theonly owners of printing presses in Batticaloa have all been Burghers. Even inthe Printing press managed by the Catholic clergy, the master printers andbinders were all of Portuguese origin. It is an undeniable fact thatBatticaloa’s best painter and block maker was the later Clarence Hendrick, alsoa delightful musician. He was a violinist without whom no Burgher function wascomplete.

At a time when Englishwas the medium of instruction in schools, the children of these PortugueseBurghers were in a better position to seek white collar jobs. The community hadgiven the town some of its finest public servant and teachers and many Catholicpriests. In addition to these priests, there are quite a number of nuns in thevarious congregations working both in the diocese and outside it.

In addition, there area few of the members of the community who have been able to secure positions inthe administrative and banking service.

1. Food and costume

 Most Burgher people havepreserved Western customs; especially among those of Portuguese ancestry theirEuropean religion, language, and surnames are retained with pride.

Burgherculture is a rich mixture of East and West, reflecting their ancestry. They arethe most Westernised of the ethnic groups in Sri Lanka. Most of them wearWestern clothing, it is not common for a man to be seen wearing a sarong, or for a woman to wear a sari.

Anumber of elements in Burgher culture have become part of the cultures of otherethnic groups in Sri Lanka. For example, baila music,which has its origin in the music of 16th-century Portugal, has found its wayinto mainstream popular Sinhalese music. Lacemaking, which began as adomestic pastime of Burgher women, is now a part of Sinhalese culture too. Evencertain foods, such as love cake, bol fiado (layeredcake),  (savoury meatballs) and lamprais, Thrutha, Bafal, Oil cake, Bread,Pickle, Milk toffee, Pasan, Popochi, Pemprethu, cookies, empatha, Pork curry,muskat, varieties of soup have become an integral part of Sri

Lankan national cuisine.

Thosewho assume that Sri Lanka’s hot curries were the creation of the Islanders willbe surprised to learn that the Portuguese introduced chillies to the localcuisine. Until then, pepper had been the means by which curries were given a‘heaty’ (Sri Lankan English) taste. Not so surprising, considering the locallack of knowledge regarding bread revealed in the comment that the Portugueseate “hunks of white stone”, is that they were responsible for theestablishment of bread-making. They also introduced the tomato. The Islanderstook to Portuguese cakes, such as the bolo fiado or bolo folhado, a layer cakefilled with cadju (cashews), and sweets such as boruwa Oil cake, Bread, Pickle,Milk toffee and fuguete. And many of the Sri Lankan sweetmeats are ofPortuguese origin

Illustrationsin Portuguese and Dutch descriptions of the Island in the 16th and 17thcenturies reveal that the Sinhalese soldier’s dress was of Portugueseinfluence. There is an engraving from Description of Malabar and Ceylon (1672)by the Dutchman Philip Baldaeus that depicts the reception of hisfellow-countryman, explorer Joris van Spilbergen, by King Vimaladharmasuriya I.The king’s guards are shown wearing a Portuguese-type helmet, white jacket andkilt.

Moreover,the kings of the Portuguese, Dutch and British era invariably wore Portuguesecostume, complete with hat and shoes. This is demonstrated in Robert Knox’s“An Historical Relation of Ceylon” (1681), in which there is an illustrationof King Rajasingha II (1635-1687). “His apparel is very strange,”Knox remarks, “not after his own country. He  has a long band hanging down his back ofPortuguese fashion.”

• Important events (Social, Cultural practices etc)

Although thePortuguese have carefully maintained the traditions and customs of theirancestors, it must be admitted that today their customs are a quaint andmixture of both East and West.

In time,the Dutch and Portuguese descendants intermarried. Under Dutch rule Portuguesewas banned, but the Portuguese speaking community was so widespread that eventhe Dutch started to speak Portuguese.

In the18th century, the Eurasian community (a mixture ofPortuguese, Dutch, and Sinhalese as well as Tamil, known as the Burgher) grew, speaking Portuguese or Dutch.

Sketch of baila dancers from frescoes at the PurvaramaVihara, Kataluwa (1886)

ThePortuguese Burghers were more mixed, following Catholicism and speaking aPortuguese creole language. Despite the socio-economic disadvantage, theBurghers maintained their Portuguese cultural identity. In Batticaloa, the Catholic Burgher Union reinforced this. The PortugueseCreole continued to be used amongst the Dutch Burghers families as the informallanguage until the end of the 19th century.

Intoday’s Sri Lanka, the Creole is limited to the spoken form. Most of thespeakers are the Burghers in the Eastern province (Batticaloa and Trincomalee). But there are also the Kaffirs (people of African origin) in theNorthwestern province (Puttalam). The Portuguese, Dutch and British brought the Kaffirsto Sri Lanka, for labour purposes. They have assumed Portuguese culture andreligion.

The PortugueseBurghers have very carefully maintained their traditional Portuguese Drill (Kaffringha),and and Lancers dance. No wedding or even a smaller social function like abirthday party or coming of age function is complete without a dance and a mealtogether. The traditional custom of celebrating a wedding for four days isgenerally maintained.

• Importance of respective communities towards national integration

The Burgher communityhad contributed largely to the survival of this country as a sovereign,independent, nonaligned country. As mentioned earlier, the Burgher communityhad always supported a political party which apparently stood for equalopportunities to all. We had, at every turn, opposed any division of thecountry. Though we, as a community, liked to maintain our identity, we livedvery peacefully and advocated co –existence. Our children today can speak boththe national languages quite fluently. We have made our own contribution, arather substantial one, in the development of the district.

A great majority ofthe residents in Batticaloa Town are Catholics. It was the Portuguese whobrought this faith in the shores of this island. St. Michael’s College which isa leading school in the island and which has put Batticaloa on the map bysuccessfully winning basketball tournaments have all had the support andassistance of the Burgher population.

The Burgher populationof Batticaloa freely mixes with other communities. The Special Problems of theCommunity are varied. Although there is a Burgher Union to cater to the socialand intellectual needs of the population, yet there are other urgent needs ofthe group.

For centuries, theBurgher population of Batticaloa have lived and died amidst the BatticaloaTamil and Muslim population. But they still remain a distinct group, small butstubbornly separate. They love and respect the indigenous population, but theyvery seldom merge. Of course, there are rare instances of inter marriage. Someboys and girls have married from the Tamil and Sinhala population and sometimeseven Muslim and Malay families.

There may be more thanone reason why they do not wish to lose their identity as Burghers. Quite anumber of them are on preserving their language and culture. No wedding orfuneral is complete without the traditional customs being followed. Probably,the Portuguese descendants feel that they are a small minority and cannotafford to mix, lose their identity and pave the way for the eventual extinctionof the community that had preserved itself for such a long time.

It may be thateventually the race may face extinction, for besides being continually forcedto grapple with economic problems, a form of inbreeding is slowly setting in,sapping the strength of this five-century old community in this country.Perhaps, there will be no help or assistance forthcoming from their country oforigin, for the Embassy of Portugal was closed down in Colombo years back andNew Delhi overlooks this island too.

The Portuguese descendants ofBatticaloa have never played an active role in the Parliamentary politics ofthe island. They have had neither opportunity nor chance to put forward acandidate of their own for a seat in Parliament nor had an idea of forming aparty of their own. This community has always stood for a United Sri Lanka andhence never had the intention of supporting any party opposed to this idea.

Even during the Referendum andthe election of the First ever elected President of Sri Lanka, the Burgherssupported the UNP. But what they got in return was only the satisfaction thatthe party they always supported won by an overwhelming majority

• Other
  • Cultural diversity

BatticaloaBurghers are a significant socio –cultural phenomenon of the Eastern part ofSri Lanka which is also enriching component of the socio –cultural aspect ofSri Lanka. The unique practices of the Burgher community contribute to themulticultural nature of both Batticaloa and Sri Lanka as a whole.

Engaging and involving Burghercommunity in Batticaloa and Sri Lanka is an act of establishing and celebratingdifferences in cultures and enriches the practices of equality and equity inevery aspect of the social strata. Engaging the Burghers not only in Batticaloabut also Island wide would create more opportunities for the Burghers and othercommunities in Sri Lanka to know, understand and accept the multiculturalaspect of Sri Lanka as well as for the unity, co-existence and peace in SriLanka. Not only the Burghers but also other numerically small communitiesshould be given opportunities in the same way.

• Informationabout their organization, different associations, sport association etc.

TraditionalGame:

FootBall is the Traditional game of the Portuguese Burghers. In Sri Lanka, it isthe Portuguese Burghers who introduced the game of football and at the Districtlevel football is very common and the Eastern Province is well known for thegame of football too.

Burghers’Recreational Club represents the Burghers of the Eastern Province inBatticaloa. With the ethnic conflict and 3 decades of war, it faced with manychallenges and after the tsunami in 2004 the club lost its resources and in thebrink of extinct.

• Listof key references

Mr. Stanislous Ockersz,Mrs. Rachel Outschoorn, Antony Ragel

(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burgher_people)(McGilvray 2007 Portuguese Burghers & Tsunami (1)( Smith, IR. Sri Lanka Portuguese Creole Phonology. 1978.Dravidian Linguistics Association.)(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portuguese_Burghers))

(Photos – Men, Women,Children (with different age categories) different stages of their life,important events etc)