Dear Children,

I have good news for you kids. Your favourite aunt - Aunt Mali - will be back from next week to take care of her loving children. For me it has been a pleasure to be with you children during the past couple of weeks.

The First Term of schools will come to a close today and all of you children will be on vacation from today. School vacation doesn’t mean that this is a period to neglect schoolwork and assignments. Balance your vacation with play and study. Get your parents’ help to prepare a timetable so that schoolwork will not be neglected during the holidays.

During the next couple of days Sri Lankans will be celebrating two very significant festivals - first the Christians will celebrate Easter and then the whole country will be in a festive mood to celebrate the Sinhala and Tamil New Year.

In our country almost every month some festival or other is celebrated. As Sri Lanka is a meeting place of our world religions - Buddhism, Hinduism, Christianity and Islam, most of the festivals are associated with religion. However the most widely celebrated festival is Sinhala and Tamil New Year, which stimulates society and enlivens the nation. It is not confined to any religion.

I know many of you kids will go to your ancestral villages to celebrate the New Year. Take time out to enjoy the fresh air and the sight of beautiful Erabadu flowers that blossom during this season, which we lack in the cities.

But as always enjoy while being safe. Always accompany an elder when you plan to visit the village lake for a dip and let your elders know where you will be. Remember Uncle Les’ golden rule: “Have Fun. Be Safe!”

Happy Easter and a very Happy New Year!

Uncle Les

Easter stamps with Old Masters’ paintings

Francis P. Gunasekera

In the Christian world, today is know as “Holy Thursday” and tomorrow is Good Friday when the Christians remember with much piety and devotion, the crucifixion and death of Jesus Christ.

It is the Christian belief that Jesus Christ sacrificed his life for the sins of the world and thereby achieved for all the ultimate bliss of eternal happiness in heaven.

The truths are embodied in the form of paintings of Old Masters in stamps issued by several countries of the world.

Shown here are such stamps beginning with the Last Supper on Holy Thursday untill the ressurection on the third day which is Easter Sunday. Bible says that if Christ did not resurrect from death there would not have been a faith as Christianity. Resurrection is therefore the solid base on which Christianity stands.

We are indebted to Old Masters of decades gone by for their original creations which are being copied in stamps of today enabling us to appreciate them during the present generation and many more generations to come.

To mention a few names of countries they are, Liberia, Barbados, Vatican, Sharjah, Paraguay, Guyana in South America, Republic of Niger. Fujeira, Ivory coast and Republic of Guinea Equatorial.

Stations of the Cross, a pious religious practice, especially during the time of Easter are shown spread over 14 stamps of the Ajman State. Wishing you all a happy Easter!

Folk Tales of Sri Lanka:

Thief gets a present

Retold by R. S. Karunaratne

Siyadoris and his small family lived in a coastal village called Dodanduwa. As it was a Poya day he did not go fishing. His children started running around the house and Siyadoris sat in his hansiputuwa smoking a cigar.

“Father, father, some people are coming towards our house. They are also bringing some parcels,” Siyadoris’s son said aloud for everybody to hear. Siyadoris threw away the cigar and got up from his hansiputuwa to see who were coming.

“Oh, they are our relations coming all the way from Anuradhapura,” Siyadoris told his wife Carlina.

“I’ll prepare something for them to eat,” Carlina said running to the small kitchen behind the house.

Siyadoris also went to the backyard and looked at the jak tree to pick a ripe fruit. He went round the tree but could not find any ripe fruit.

Then he looked up to see whether there were ripe jak fruits at the top part of the tree. Instead of ripe jak fruits Siyadoris saw his neighbour Upasaka Unnehe. At once he lost his temper but controlled himself without uttering any bad words because he had visitors who had come from Anuradhapura.

“Upasaka Unnehe, what are you doing there?” Siyadoris asked.

“Siyadoris, I wanted to take your permission before I climbed the tree. But you were relaxing in your favourite hansiputuwa. I didn’t want to disturb you,” Upasaka Unnehe said.

“That’s okay, Upasaka Unnehe. Now that you have already climbed the tree, please pluck two ripe jak fruits - one for you and the other for me,” Siyadoris said.

After some time Upasaka Unnehe lowered two ripe jak fruits with the help of a rope. Upasaka Unnehe took one jak fruit as a present and Siyadoris took the other fruit and gave it to his wife for cooking.

Junior Scribes:

The Kingfisher

It was the rainbow gave three births
And left thee all her lovely hues;
And, as her mother’s name was tears,
So runs it in my blood to choose
For haunts the lonely pools, and keep
In company with trees that weep.

* * *

Go you and, with such glorious hues,
Live with proud peacocks in green parks;
On lawns as smooth as shining glasses
Let every feather show its marks;
Get thee on boughts and clap thy wings
Before the windows for proud kings.

* * *

Ways lovely bird; thou art not vain;
Thou hast no proud, ambitious mind;
I also love a quiet place
That’s green, away from all mankind;
A lonely pool and let a tree
Sight with her bosom over me.

R. Renusha,
Grade 6,
Kingston College International,
Mutwal